Viridian. His fixed nature sometimes drove me to distraction, but right now I let out my breath slowly.How are the silver dragons your brothers?
We are the same.He moved forward, a claw reaching up to tap on the egg.Born of the same line.
What?I looked around the mural, trying to discover whatever he was getting from the artwork.
Gold and silver makes white-gold queens, Auren said.Gold and silver results in more silver males. Acid breathers.
Like Viridian…I frowned and then backed away.No, no, that can’t be right. I know that the corp prioritised other colours over green, but silver dragons were eradicatedalong with Drathnor and her sisters. They…
But it made sense, didn’t it? It felt like every eye was on me as I put two and two together. Purple and black dragons were seen to be lighter and darker versions of the same type of dragon, all descended from one massive beast that had flown the channel thousands of years ago. Orange, red and gold dragon colourations were like variations of each other and all breathed fire. Blue dragons and green were the only outliers, but the blues’ ability to manipulate water and ice was tied to their common ancestor, Aisenbran.
So what if Viridian’s were a silver male and a white-gold queen?
Is that something you remember?I asked.Have you had visions of the White Death before all of this?
The answer is in the earth.
Without pausing, he turned and walked deeper into the cave. Past mural after mural, I was barely able to glance at them as we passed by. What was depicted there wasn’t his focus, but this. The ramp fell away, revealing a massive expanse. The remains of cracked shells, of mouldering bones, filled the corners of the sands, but they didn’t even rate a look. Viridian walked over to a raised dais of stone. And there was a nest of dragonstone, gleaming white in the gloom. Viridian stopped short of it,curling his tail around his feet and looking as proud as a retriever that had dropped a dead bird at your feet.
“This…” Fern stepped forward. “Is this Drathnor’s nest?”
Only one way to find out. The dragons were one step ahead of us, already pricking the balls of their claws and prompting blood to well on the tips as I pulled my knife free. Fern pricked her finger, then I did the same, all five of us humans moving closer.
“Do we just touch any stone?” Lorien asked.
“Let’s see.”
I bent down and pressed a finger to the closest stone, and that’s when the world fell away and was replaced by this.
By all the gods, she was terrifying. The white-gold queen loomed above us, feeling like she only just fit into the space.
I am Drathnor, the one they call the White Death, she said, her voice booming in my head.But for you I will be Mother. As you grow, stretch and curl inside your shells, my sons and daughters, I will tell you the story of our kind…
Some time later,we humans stumbled out of the cave and into the late afternoon light. Blinking, I found it hard to reconcile the simple buildings with what I’d seen.
“That…” Lorien said with a shake of his head.
Kael blinked. “Yeah.”
“And she…”
Fern waved her hands through the air aimlessly.
“The dragons have what they need.” Dain looked back at the cave entrance, but he can’t have caught sight of our beasts. They were all curled up in the nest, listening to the stories Drathnor had left for them. “But right now, we need food and rest.” For the first time, he glanced at me without a scowl. “Is that something we can procure here?”
“There’s only the one bed,” I replied, and that had Kael smiling. “But there’s a few chairs in my cottage and there should be some food. Might be something simple like porridge.”
“Porridge…” Lorien groaned. “With sugar and a little cinnamon? I can’t think of anything I want more right now.”
“That and the sleeping arrangements for tonight.” Kael looked back at me with a grin. “A wing bunks together, doesn’t it, Lieutenant?”
“Not in the same bed, they don’t.” I strode past him, then opened the front door. “Fern is still a lady.”
“She’s my lady.” As the woman herself spluttered, Kael wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I admit, watching her slap him away had me smiling. “If its a ring you need, love, or a ceremony, I’ll have a priest here and a gold band on your hand by morning.”
“What we all need is our bedrolls,” she said. “I’ve developed a taste for sleeping out under the stars.”
“So you can snuggle into me when it gets cold? Got it.”
