“I named that horse well,” Lanor murmured, his face pale.
Soren wasn’t sure what they were referring to and had half a mind not to ask, but the princess pushed, “What is it?”
Sir Helq swallowed hard. “Have you ever heard of the Three Sisters, princess?”
Princess Cion hesitated. “I… Yes. But they are a legend, nothing more.”
The two knights exchanged a look, but Lanor said, “As you say, my princess.”
“You disagree?”
Soren tamped down the temptation to ask what exactly the Three Sisters were. Half of her didn’t want to know at all.
Princess Cion sighed sharply through her teeth, looking to the horizon. “The storm has delayed us. We need to move.”
The knights merely nodded. They could act as friends all they wanted, but when it came down to it, the princess was their master.
On shaky limbs, Soren mountedSgàilsuilonce more. The princess pushed them ahead at a brutal pace, stopping for only a few hours in the night. Soren didn’t sleep at all, the ground hard beneath her thin pallet and the echo of the whispers she had heard swirling in her mind.
The final day of the journey came with a flurry of snow and gray skies. The knights pulled heavy cloaks from their packs for them, though the fabric did not do much to cut through the biting chill.
About midday, in the distance, Soren spotted spirals reaching up into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.
“The temple,” Princess Cion breathed, eyes shining when she saw it. “We are nearly there.”
A distant roar had Soren jumping and the horses neighing uneasily. The princess smiled, though, unafraid of the promise of dragons ahead.
“Do not worry, Soren,” she said. “You’ll be kept safe.”
“Yes, my princess,” she said on instinct, her eyes on those spires.
Princess Cion laughed. “Let us finish this. I need to change before the Ceremony.”
Chapter 7
A few hours from sunset,Soren stood behind the princess in what looked like an arena. It was carved out of the mountain itself, much of the stone oddly dark and shiny. The princess had murmured in Soren’s ear that the stone had been touched by dragonfire.
A small group of women stood on an outcropping of rock above the hollowed out space, all wearing robes of fiery red, thin, sheer veils covering all but their mouths. Around their necks, they each wore a heavy bronze amulet engraved with a symbol Soren could not see from her place on the floor.
The Sisters of Arcane, the last links to the gods.
Soren hardly believed these priestesses had any real connection to the gods anymore. They had abandoned this realm long ago; it didn’t make sense to pay humans any mind after sealing themselves away, even devout women such as these.
To the right of the princess, two young men stood, and on the left, three young women, each waiting to claim a dragon. Soren was sure they were sons and daughters of high-ranking nobles, or perhaps the child of an honored general if they were lucky. No one else had the right to this day. The dragons only wanted nobility and warriors.
Straight ahead, directly under where the Sisters stood, an enormous cavern entrance yawned. It was completely dark inside, making impossible to see anything that might be approaching.
“You have been chosen!”
Soren jolted as one of the Sisters, this one wearing a gold circlet on her head, shouted from above them.
“Esteemed sons and daughters, this day marks the beginning or end of your destiny. If a dragon finds you unworthy, this may be the last day you draw breath. If you are chosen, glory awaits. This is your last chance to walk away.”
Soren resisted the urge to heed the Sister’s words and run, instead standing still behind the princess, her shoulders curled in submission. She had little choice in being here, yet still, she didn’t feel out of place. Soren didn’t believe in fate, but this moment was the closest she had come to thinking it might have a hand in her life.
The Sister smiled when no one moved, saying in a low voice, “Then let us begin.”
She stepped back, and as all the Sisters closed their eyes, they began to hum, the sound rich and resonant in the mountain air. A few broke off, singing a broken, raw melody that pricked the hairs on the back of Soren’s neck. As the song escalated, the arena trembled slightly. Soren kept her eyes on the cavern as the first dragon crawled out into the open.
