The queen before me, for just a moment I thought she was Drathnor. A cursory examination of the apparition made clear she wasn’t. Her scales were a dark gold I knew well. I’d watched the light bounce off them so many times when I was still in the shell. Lying in a nest of dragonstones, I’d absorbed all of her wisdom, her memories, and while I felt I knew her every thought, I never expected to come face to face with her.
Mother?All the yearning I couldn’t keep stuffed down was communicated in that one word.Mother, I?—
My little Auren.Her claw rose and when I closed my eyes, for just a second, I could believe that she was stroking the side of my muzzle.Daughter. The whole time I was pregnant with you, I dreamed of what kind of queen you would become.
Her head pressing against mine, it was a feeling I’d longed for my entire existence. Zafira did her best with us, but she had her own clutch as well as ours to care for. There was something about a bond of blood. For just a moment, I stood there, trying to store away every sensation so I might bring the memory out later and relive it.
Only to be disappointed.
My eyes flicked open to see my mother drawing back. Dragon expressions are subtle, unable to be detected by humans, but I saw the harsh look in her eyes. That golden gaze took me in as her muzzle wrinkled.
I died to bring you into this world,she said.
I know, Mother. Father told us?—
I died bearing a whole clutch of queen dragons to ensure our species survives.Mutely, I stared at her. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t heard this before, but coming from my mother…You grew just under my heart, and every day I thought about what must be done. You scrub in the dirt like a dog, not a queen dragon, seeking secrets, and for what? How will anything you find out about the White Death help our kind?
Mother, I need to?—
Rise to mate.She stepped closer, seemingly growing taller and taller.Bear more dragonlings.Continue the species. What other purpose could you possibly have? There is nothing for you in this cave. Go back to where you came and?—
Auren.
My breath was coming in faster and faster. Lungs worked hard, sucking in oxygen the way I did when I was racing through the air. There was a strange kind of weightlessness to me as Viridian cut through my mother’s apparition. My head felt like it floated on the end of my neck. Perhaps that’s why a harsh sound clawed its way out of my throat.
What are you doing?I snapped, turning on Viridian in a rage.Head down, neck snaking across the stone, my wings flapped out as far as they would go. The burn of fire trickling out of my nostrils was a perfect externalisation at the sudden surge of rage.Why would you drive her away like that?
Her—?he asked.
That was the moment the silver dragons joined us, stalking closer.
This is all part of your plan, I said, eyeing all four of them.You could never outfly me, so you brought me down here!My sides heaved as the fire inside me flared to life, ready to be spewed forth.You will never get me to submit! Never!
Why would we want your submission?Slate asked as he prowled forward. Flames played across my muzzle, making clear what would happen if he got too close.When it is your fire that beckons us closer.
Do. Not. Take. Another. Step.
My jaws opened and I let out a most undignified hiss.
As you say,Argent said.You are our queen, so your word is the only law we follow.
The answers are in the earth,Viridian insisted.My queen?—
This way.Brightfang’s head jerked up, and he climbed through a massive hole torn into the wall.It’s this way. You said you wanted to see Mother’s tomb. She’s just through here.I can see…
What?
I moved without thinking, my fire swallowed back down, warming my stomach as I followed the silver dragon. This was no neatly carved tunnel. There was no art to gaze at as we passed, no dragon stone carvings to light the way. Only purplish white glowing mushrooms that shed clouds of spores as we passed. The roughly hewn tunnel was far smaller than the main one, but the claustrophobic feeling of walking down it dissipated when we arrived into the main cave.
“Gods…” Fern stumbled into the room beside me, staring at the contents, and why not? I stalked forward, trying to take in all of the gleaming bones and failing. “How could a dragon grow so large?”
How indeed?
I placed my claw beside the remains of Drathnor’s and saw the way a single talon on hers spanned the entire length of my claws. Ribs arched up, almost touching the ceiling of the cave, her pelvis big enough I could’ve crawled into the curve of it, pretending to be a hatchling. But it was her skull that drew me closer. My muzzle sniffed at the air, catching the dank stink of mould and fungi, but little else. I touched my nose to hers, then looked up into the empty sockets. Truly, Drathnor was the White Death. She could’ve opened those massive jaws and bitten me in two with little thought.
“She wasn’t gold.” Fern held a scale that was larger than her hand and it glittered brighter than fine silver. “Drathnor wasn’t gold. She was a silver queen?”
“Silver queen?” Argent’s rider drifted closer, his eyes curiously unfocussed. Those dark pupils reflected the strange glow of the bones. “No, Drathnor was no silver.”
