Dragon Fire (38 page)

Red dropped Pemba’s arm but not his eyes.

Anna felt a horrendous ripping through the very fiber of her being. And then another. And another. She gripped Pemba, but the feeling was even worse feeling it with him. Each rip took part of her soul with it, leaving a gaping hole in its place. Anna cried out in pain. Pemba held her tightly, his fingers digging into her. Red dropped to his knees, his face twisted in anguish, shaking his head and muttering, “No, no. Let them go…”

And then it stopped.

Anna collapsed in Pemba’s arms, crying uncontrollably. The world was emptier. Something was gone. Gone forever.

“Fourteen,” said Red, standing up after the ripping had stopped. “Fourteen more dragons lost forever.”

Anna shook in Pemba’s arms, clinging to him, needing his warmth, his vibrancy. It had hurt too much to feel them die.

“Take her home,” said Red. “I’ll take care of this.”

T
HE NEXT MORNING ANNA STUMBLED DOWN
the stairs. Her head hurt from having cried herself to sleep and her eyes felt like huge puffballs. Pemba had disappeared right after seeing her home. He had gone to find Dawa. Hushed voices came from the kitchen and she slowed down. Ulf was speaking with her mom. She had forgotten about him. She turned to go back up the stairs, but her mom came out.

“Anna, wait,” Ingrid said. She ran up the stairs and hugged Anna. “Ulf told me all about last night…” Ingrid trembled as she took one of Anna’s hands and traced the pink welt with an icy finger. She looked at Anna and then turned to the kitchen. “Ulf? These are welts, not cuts. Oh, thank goodness.” She started laughing and pulled Anna down the stairs. “You’ll never believe what Ulf said. He was convinced you tried to commit suicide last night at some party because Pemba wasn’t there. Isn’t that just the silliest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Anna pulled her hand away. Had Red not been able to erase Ulf’s memory and the events had come out scrambled in a weird way? “I’m fine, Mom. Really.”

Ingrid hugged her. “I know you are, honey. Ulf’s just not used to being in a parenting role.” Ingrid went over to the counter and fussed over the coffee. “I can’t believe you could mistake a few little scrapes for an open wound,” Ingrid said to Ulf. “It’s a good thing I’m a nurse. You had me completely panicked for a moment.”

Ingrid came over and put a tray with three cups of coffee on the table. “There’s nothing wrong with her, see? Right, honey?”

“Sure,” said Anna. “Everything’s fine.” Other than being poisoned and shapeshifters killing each other. Anna choked back a sob.

Ulf stood up. “She’s not alright, Ingrid. Look at her.”

Ingrid shook her head. “She’s fine. It’s just hard to be separated from your boyfriend when you’re so young. Or have you forgotten already?”

“But…” Ulf sank to his chair, his head in his hands. “I don’t understand.”

Ingrid patted Anna’s hand. “Don’t worry. I do.” She turned to Ulf and caressed his hair. “You’re so sweet, darling. It’s touching how much you care. But really, it’s nothing. It’s just part of growing up.”

Anna looked out the window, this was just what she needed. A clueless mom and a hovering Ulf. “I’m late for school.”

“You can stay at home, if you want,” Ulf said. “Right, Ingrid? You’re not working. You could spend the day together…”

“Ulf, it’s okay. I’m fine.” There was no way she was spending the day with her mom. “Thanks for the coffee,” she said and walked out of the room.

“See?” Ingrid said to Ulf. “She’d rather go to school. She’s not depressed. Just love-sick.”

“But, Ingrid. I’m sure of what I saw.”

A coffee cup slammed on the table. Anna paused on the stairs. “That’s enough,” said Ingrid, her voice hard as rock. “She’s my daughter and I know what’s going on. She doesn’t need to tell me for me to know she’s okay.”

“But she’s a teenager. And no normal teenager will ever tell their mom how they are feeling. Especially if it’s about a boy.”

“Ulf, it’s okay. She’s not a normal teenager. Leave her alone. She doesn’t need your help any more than she needs mine.”

Anna gaped. Not normal? Why wasn’t she normal?

“But you can’t just let her—”

“Stop right now, Ulf.” Her mom’s voice was unlike anything she had ever heard. Cold and calm. And on the brink of imploding. “If you can’t accept her as she is, you can leave.”

“No, Ingrid, please. I just want to help. You’re the only thing that is stable in my life.”

Ingrid burst into tears. “Then help me,” came the choked reply. “I feel so alone all the time. If only her father would come back…”

Anna heard movement and then muffled voices. Ulf must be comforting her mom. She gripped the rail and walked slowly upstairs. Her mom was hiding something. And so was Red.

* * *

Rakan watched over Dvara as she tossed and turned in her bed. The firelight flickered against the stone walls, giving the nook an incongruously cheery feel. Nineteen dragons had died. Fourteen of them in excruciating pain since Yttresken had refused to let go of their röks. The only reason more hadn’t died was because T’eng Sten had managed to rip Yttresken’s rök out of his chest before killing him. Otherwise all of Yttresken’s kais would have died with him. Rakan shook with anger, wishing he had been the one to rip out Yttresken’s rök.

Dvara moaned and Rakan moved to her side. “Dvara? Can you hear me?”

“Where’s T’eng Sten?”

“He’s alive.”

“I know that.” She opened her eyes. “Where is he?”

Rakan felt her try to reach out. “Don’t,” he said. “You won’t find him. He’s in the Hold.” And nothing could reach through the shields around the Hold.

“What? Why? It’s Yttresken’s fault, not T’eng Sten’s.”

“Yarlung declared it wasn’t an official duel.”

Dvara hissed. Her skin flickered vermillion.

Khotan shifted into the room. He held a steaming bowl of yak meat stew. “Shh,” he said, silencing Dvara’s protests. “You can’t help him unless you heal.”

Dvara glared at Khotan. “How long will he be in the Hold?”

“They’re starting the Meet as soon as the other Kairöks arrive from the Fragments. Today or tomorrow at the latest. His trial will be the first thing on the agenda.”

“But he doesn’t need to be tried.” Dvara shimmered in anger.

“It’ll be alright,” Rakan said, trying to soothe her. “You should eat something.”

“I don’t want to eat,” she yelled. She hurled the bowl across the room and exploded into her dragon form. She twirled wildly, scratching at the walls and blasting fire. Khotan morphed and flattened her, biting into her jugular. Rakan jumped into the spiral stairway. He cursed himself for not having morphed fast enough. Dvara went still and Khotan let her go. He morphed back into his human form. But Dvara didn’t. She limped over to her dragon nest and curled up facing the wall.

“Come upstairs,” said Khotan. He shifted out of the room with the remains of the bowl.

Rakan looked at his sister’s drooping black crest. “I’ll go see T’eng Sten.”

Dvara didn’t say anything and he didn’t expect her to; she couldn’t speak in dragon form. But she gave a low grunt and curled up tighter. Rakan bowed his head slightly. “I’ll do what I can to help him. I promise.”

* * *

June ran into the parking lot in front of Anna’s apartment. “Oh, Anna, there you are,” she said, throwing her arms around Anna. “I’m so sorry.”

“No. Wait.” Anna held June at arms length. “What do you think happened?”

June looked confused. “You were poisoned and Pemba tried to get me to come help you, but I blocked him out. Haakon said Red felt you.” June paused. “How did he know what to do?”

“I have no idea. He just felt it?”

“Maybe. But he doesn’t have a rök.”

“A what?”

“A… dragon heart. A condensed ball of energy that allows you to manipulate matter.”

“Oh.” The source of energy he was hiding. And June didn’t know. Anna hooked her arm through June’s and headed towards school. “We’re late.” Better not to talk about it.

“It doesn’t matter.” June squeezed Anna’s arm. “Are you okay?”

“I guess so.” Anna let herself be wrapped in June’s energy that felt so alive. “But it was awful. The feeling…” The numbing void of loss made Pemba’s absence even harder.

“I felt them die too,” June whispered, sensing what Anna was feeling. “It hurt. It hurt so much. I thought I was going to die with them.” June began to shake. “I don’t think I can go to school. Not today. The pain was like my nightmares. Except it was real. And they’re all dead.”

Anna steadied June. Pain worse than what she had felt the night before flashed through her. It felt like the planet was exploding around them. And everyone with it. She was consumed by hatred. She wanted to lash out and kill. To destroy. The girls stumbled. A soothing energy washed over them, easing the pain, the anger. She gasped and fell into Lysa as Erling took June. “What was that?” Anna asked, too stunned to think about how Erling and Lysa had shown up so suddenly.

“A memory,” said Lysa. “But not a good one.”

“Is she okay?”

“She will be,” said Lysa. She looked at June and Erling. “It’s a pain they share.”

Lysa steered Anna towards school. “I think they need some time.”

Anna leaned on Lysa and they walked down the hill in silence. Her energy was smooth and somehow tender. “You don’t have that pain,” Anna said.

“No.” Lysa hesitated by the rock in front of the school. “We should talk about it.”

“The pain?”

“No,” said Lysa, her voice echoing slightly. “What caused it.”

* * *

Anna sat across from Lysa, looking around Hansen’s. They were becoming regulars at skipping school and hanging out here. Anna played with her floppy heart-shaped waffle. Lysa hadn’t said anything and Anna was beginning to wonder if she would. “Did you feel it last night?” Anna asked, breaking the silence.

Lysa looked up. Her pale green eyes had an intensity that made them look supersaturated. “Yes. From afar. Like a reflection on the water.”

Anna stopped playing with her waffle and put her hands in her lap. “It was awful.”

“I didn’t think anyone could be so cruel.”

“What happened?” The pain had been too awful, too fresh, to talk about last night when Pemba had walked her home.

“Two Kairöks fought over Dawa.”

“Two what?”

“Two clan leaders. One of them used you as a lure to get Dawa out of the protection of T’eng Sten’s shields. But the deaths we felt were because one of the Kairöks didn’t release the röks,” Lysa paused. “Do you know what that is?” Anna nodded and Lysa continued. “A Kairök has to release the rök of their kai,” Lysa paused, noticing Anna’s confusion. “A kai is what they call those who have given their rök to a Kairök. And the Kairök has to release the rök when one of his or her kais is about to die. But Yttresken didn’t. So his kais died in agony.”

Anna felt the pain of their deaths return. “Who won?” Her voice caught in her throat, certain that it was Torsten, the one Pemba called Tenzin.

“I’ll never understand the concept of winning when so many died,” said Lysa. “But to answer the question I think you’re asking: Yttresken died. T’eng Sten lives.”

“Will Dawa have to go with him?” Anna felt sick to her stomach at the thought of anyone being bantered around like nothing more than a piece of cloth.

Lysa gave Anna a strange look. “T’eng Sten has been Dawa’s choice from the beginning. She wants to be with him. Why do you think otherwise?”

“Because she didn’t seem to like him very much. And both Pemba and Dawa were protecting me from Kariaksuq, who was doing what Torsten, Tenzin, whatever his name is, was telling her to do.”

“You mean the one who poisoned you with the letter? She was one of Yttresken’s kais, not T’eng Sten’s. And Yttresken knew Dawa would come out of their lair to protect you.”

“But why did she protect me? I mean, I’m glad she did.” The thought of what would have happened otherwise made Anna shudder. “But we’ve never been close.” Far from it.

“She was doing it for Pemba. Because she’s loyal to him. Not you.”

“Oh.” At least that was clear. She was beginning to understand what Pemba meant when he said his family would never abandon him. “And Kariaksuq was following Torsten, uh T’eng Sten, for the other Kairök. So she was with Ulf to get to me?”

Lysa shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t follow the pointless maneuverings of the shapeshifters. Erling says I should, but I can’t.”

“It makes sense in a twisted way. Kariaksuq was with Ulf to give him the letter to poison me, to lure Dawa out, to capture her…” Anna ripped the waffle in half. It didn’t make any sense. Not really. All the Draak had accomplished was to kill 14 of their own. When Dawa should have been free to choose who to be with anyway.

“I wanted to tell you about what happened.” Lysa’s voice had a detached quality that made Anna’s attention snap back to her friend. “There was a war between the Draak and the Elythia—”

“—wait. Who are the Elythia?”

“People like me. June calls us angels, but the resemblance is rather far from the image most people have. We call ourselves Elythia, Beings of Light.”