“Excellent,” Marvoe said, white teeth gleaming with the promise that he’d shed no tears at the man’s loss. “Leave at firstlight. Put that shielding to good use. You know what, send that new recruit Ro with him, Carmin.” Without another word, he turned his back on his followers, ducking into the biggest tent.
A dozen questions raced through my mind at once. Why were they looking for a nest? A nest of what? Why would all of The Eleven need to be present afterward? What was located in the mountains of Argora Vale that held any importance for their cause?
Braxius stirred in my hood, but didn’t speak.
The remaining members exchanged glances by the campfire, one of them saying, “Survived the Black Pool only to be eaten by dragons. Quite the legacy, Roiden.”
My stomach plummeted. “Are there dragons in the mountains?”
A moment of silence passed.
“Braxius!”I mentally hissed.
His little voice quietly replied, shaky and distressed, “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?! I thought you were the only one left?”
“I never said that.”
I refrained from releasing a frustrated huff.“Semantics. You certainly never mentioned others. Why would The Order want to mess with dragons? Legends don’t paint them as approachable creatures. How have they even existed so long without being discovered? I thought they were wiped out after the curse a century ago.”
“We weren’t. The dark magic didn’t affect us, but our elders decided to seclude ourselves deep in the mountains.”
“So you’re saying dragons are powerful enough to stand against the dark magic?”
“Matured dragons, yes.”
I chewed my lip, the back of my neck now damp with nervous sweat. So dragons were The Order’s biggest threat, and theywanted to eliminate them before making a move on the rest of the continent. So we couldn’t weaponize the dragons and somehow fortify ourselves against them.
“If you returned to your nest, could you warn them? Would they ever come out from the mountains and stand against The Order?”Human armies couldn’t stand against the dark magic, but if we could get dragons on our side, and whatever defense they had…
“I-I don’t know.”
I took in a long, contemplative breath. The King of Windguard could go screw himself. My friends needed this information, great divine, all of Myelle needed it. Dae and I would leave tonight, head south straight to Rahana and send Braxius ahead to deliver the message, and we’d only be a couple days behind. Maybe less if I could ride a tiger.
My thoughts momentarily turned that idea dirty, but I quickly sobered.
I explained the game plan to Braxius as I sleuthed back through the woods. Once I knew I was out of range, I picked up my pace. The last thing I wanted was to get caught by any members of The Eleven returning to our camp, especially if they had their sights set on me.
My trusty sense of direction navigated me back to Devera, and I wasted no time. In one of the unoccupied homes where I recalled seeing a work table, I retrieved parchment and a pencil. By the dim candlelight Braxius lit with his tiny fireball, I wrote a letter to Radhak vaguely explaining the situation, omitting the details of Alba’s betrayal and death. My hands would have probably shaken if I attempted to write it anyway, the grief still fresh but buried under more pressing rubble.
Radhak,
Taja knows the camp’s location. Evacuate everyone immediately. He’s forced me on a mission to the north. Thereis an Order, the ones responsible for the kidnappings across the kingdoms, who are tapping into a pool of dark magic that resides in northern Windguard. They’re the ones spreading it.
Near the deserted town of Devera, an outpost rests in the forest to the east, midway to the mountain range. Avoid it, and anyone bearing black marks.
Oh, and dragons live in the mountains. They aren’t affected by dark magic. The Order is hunting them down.
I’m sorry I couldn’t write sooner. I’ve been doing what I can to keep you all safe, just like you taught me. I should be a few days behind Brax, but don’t wait for me.
Oh, and there’s someone I’d like you to meet…
Sail with the wind.
Ro
Not a pretty missive, but legible. Maybe. I rolled up the paper, searching out a loose bit of twine, and tied it around Braxius’s leg.
