You know I can’t. We are brothers.His muzzle nudged at my chest.We are bound together until death. Perhaps even beyond that.
Then take this.My jacket was ripped open, my hand finding the secret pocket inside it, before I pulled free the journal.Destroy it, Argent.
No.
Destroy it!Just then I felt a flare of desperate hope. His eyes gleamed like twin pools of mercury, reflecting back the celestial glow of the stars. I could get lost within them, forgetting what happened, then my name, then all of the events of my stupid life.Destroy the journal, brother.
Because I had imagined the moment when Fern saw my drawings far too many times. Over and over, I fantasised about finally meeting the other half of my soul. She’d see my work and somehow know what it was, what she meant to me. I’d look up, and she’d rush into my arms. Instead… She stared at me with a look of horror. My eyes fell closed again, but this time the muscles weren’t screwed up against the pain. I breathed through one wave, then the next.
Destroy it, please. If you love me at all?—
You carry it close to your heart for a reason, Dain. It has taken on your soul’s resonance.
And that was the problem.
I snatched the book up, flicking through the pages, going to tear one free, then another. I’d rip them into tiny pieces… Of course, I had to open it on that page. A ruffle haired Fern when she first came face to face with Auren, the two of them teetering on the precipice of something, but was it greatness or destruction?
I could find out if I searched my visions long enough.
Opening myself up to the powerful tide that threatened to drown me, I’d discover what would happen. Instead, my hand whipped up, throwing the book out into the darkness, then I walked away before I even heard it hit the ground.
I’m going to sleep, I told Argent, doubting my words as soon as I thought them.And then in the morning, we’ll work out what to do next.
I’d intended to lie on the wet grass, but a wing went over me, shutting out the sky, the breeze, the cold, everything, reducing my world down to just my dragon and me.
Few humans can bear the weight of dragon sight and survive it.Hishead settled down beside mine.You heard my cries from inside my shell.
The night my parents died, I said, following the tracery of veins on the inside of his wing.And every night afterwards, until we were forced into the caves. Then you were nestled against my chest.My eyes rolled sideways to see him watching me with one eye.And we were bonded.
Dragon sight is a terrible thing, but like all weapons, it can be used for good or ill. Sleep, brother.My eyes fell closed despite myself.When you dream, the answers will come, whether you want them or not.
That was exactly why I fought sleep, tonight and every other night, but the exhaustion of half a day of flying and this evening’s insanity would not be denied. My breathing evened out, my body growing heavier and heavier until…
Fern reached for a glowing egg. This wasn’t a memory of Argent’s hatching, because the egg was far smaller than a dragon’s and cold and hard to touch.A Tanis stone…my dragon said.
What is…?
My words trailed away as the walls of the cave began to shake. Pebbles dropped from the ceiling, then larger rocks, forcing me to move. My arm went around Fern’s waist, dragging her limp form towards the entrance. Slabs of stone were now hitting the ground, like knives aimed for our backs.Dodge around them!I thought furiously.Run! Get Fern out of here. Get her…
The horrific sound of rock being torn in two had my internal monologue faltering. I watched in horror, pinned to the spot, as a massive fissure formed. Fern moaned in my arms, but I couldn’t focus on her, not now. The shaking got more violent and that dislodged the wall of the cavern. It fractured in more and more pieces, and that meant the structure could not be sustained. My eyes went wide, aching as the whole cave collapsed.
“NO!”
I woke with a start, blinking wildly as I stared at the sky. My brain fought to recognise where I was. The ruins, the hill outside the estate and Argent.
Brother?
That’s what’s going to happen? There was a terrible finality about his voice.Then we must ensure it doesn’t. The only way we can do that is if–
We return to the estate.
Gods, perhaps last night was a boon. Fern had seen my shame, so there was nothing more to lose. Throwing myself at her feet, begging her not to go to Blackreach. The place was cursed by more than just the ghost of Drathnor. Every single street, every house, every stone contained memories I didn’t want to revisit. I should’ve known taking her there was a mistake. We’d find other ancient dragons. There was supposed to be a massive ice dragon buried on the king’s estates outside the city…
Let’s go then, Argent said with a nudge.
Pulling on my jacket, grabbing my sword, I saw that more of my possessions had been placed beside me when I slept. I held up the journal and Argent looked away like a dog confronted with evidence of his destruction.
Was this you?I asked.
