Alina frowned, the unease rising. Where were they going?
‘Look!’ Isla’s voice was urgent as she pointed towards the outer edges of the city, where the golden land gave way to rock and desert. Alina’s breath caught at the sight that met her eyes.
‘How…?’
‘They’ve been arriving through the night, so I’ve heard,’ Isla said, awe softening her tone. ‘Mareena’s going with the Phanax to—’
But Isla didn’t have the chance to finish. Alina was already moving, vaulting over the terrace ledge with the ease of one who had done so many times before. She gestured for Isla tofollow, her limbs fluid with purpose.
They made their way across the rooftops, swift and silent as shadows, eyes fixed on the path of the Phanax below. Not a single sound betrayed their movement as they slipped from tile to tile, roof to roof, always keeping the warriors in their sights. The air shimmered with heat and anticipation, and Alina’s heart beat in time with the distant roars.
The moment they reached the city’s edge, Alina tugged Isla down into a crouch. Hidden on a nearby rooftop, they watched in silence. Alina’s entire body ached to move, to rush across the open land and reach the majestic beasts that had descended just beyond the borders of Kairus. But uncertainty anchored her. What if this was a trick? What if the witches had ensnared the dragons in some twisted spell, leading them here as bait?
Beyond the city gates, the Phanax emerged in formation, their spears raised, swords gleaming beneath the morning sun. Alina’s gaze locked onto Mareena, the princess moving with regal precision as she approached the dragons now dotting the plain. There were at least a dozen of them, some familiar, others wild and strange, their scales glinting with unknown origins.
‘Farahi…’ Isla whispered, barely audible.
Alina’s pulse thrummed with dread. If Mareena drew even a fraction closer, those dragons would reduce her to ash. They were restless, unsettled by the approach of armed warriors.
Without pause, Alina sprang into motion, leaping off the building and running through the gates. She tore across the stone and sand, ignoring the alarmed cries of the Phanax. She reached Mareena in seconds, grabbed her arm and yanked her back with urgency.
‘Lower your weapons,’ she commanded, sweeping her hand in a motion that brooked no argument.
The dragons had already sensed the threat. Two brokeformation, stalking forward, their throats glowing with the promise of fire.
‘You cannot—’
‘Trust me,’ Alina said fiercely, her eyes locked with Mareena’s. She poured the truth into her eyes, hoping it would be enough. Only she could calm them. Only she could prevent bloodshed.
Mareena held her stare, then with a nod, removed her helmet and stepped aside.
Alina inhaled deeply, drawing strength from the land and the memory of all she had lost. She faced the two dragons now circling, their bodies bristling with tension. The largest, a scarlet-scaled colossus with blackened fangs, let out a thunderous roar that struck the air like a blow. But Alina held her ground, walking forward as though pulled by invisible strings, unwavering.
When she reached the beast, she slowly lifted her hand.
‘It’s me,’ she said, her voice trembling with awe. ‘I’m here. You found me.’
The dragon lowered its great head. The moment her palm touched the warm, rough surface of its scaled brow, tears welled in her eyes. She hadn’t dared believe she’d ever see them again. Yet here they stood, not just one, but more, dozens, appearing on the horizon like ghosts returned to flesh.
‘You found me,’ she whispered again, overwhelmed, as the other dragons began to gather, encircling the drakonian princess in a living ring of fire and smoke. Several threw their heads back and released a roar so mighty it cracked the sky, an echoing cry to the world that they had returned, and their queen was among them once more.
…
‘There are so many of them,’ Mareena said, her crimson eyes wide with wonder. ‘What are we to do with them? They could be a danger to my people.’
‘They won’t be,’ Alina replied, her voice quiet but certain.
Hours had slipped by like sand through fingers, each moment spent in the company of her dragons. Alina had walked among them, spoken in murmurs only they seemed to understand, her hands tracing scales both familiar and foreign. The Phanax had kept their distance, a silent guard, watchful but undisturbed.
Now, with the golden light of late afternoon settling upon the stone, Alina stood beside Mareena and Isla once more, their gazes fixed upon the beasts that shifted and stirred like restless mountains.
‘My father—’
‘Your father will not give me an army,’ Alina said, her tone as unyielding as the desert wind. ‘But I have found one of my own.’
Isla frowned and touched the tip of her nose before flicking her chin upward in a gesture as old as the dunes, one of doubt, of disbelief born from years of hardship.
‘Can you command them all?’ Mareena asked.
