“Please, lead the way, Priestess.”
Anniliese dipped her head, a picture of perfect obedience, and led Gabriel from the room.
Leaving Andrian to wonder the true depths of terror Kol intended to wield upon this castle, and how he was all but helpless to stop it.
Chapter 5
Wind roared in Mariah’s ears as Rulene dropped below the clouds, the thunderous boom of her wings splitting the air in two.
The sky was cooler flying above the blanket of heat that smothered the desert during the day. Ciana, Delaynie, Quentin, Rylla, and Trefor sat behind Mariah between the ridges down Rulene’s sky-blue spine. The rest of her court flew a short distance behind on Callamus. Signe, long hair streaming behind her, wore a wild grin as she embraced the sky on her god’s back.
It was, again, almost enough to make Mariah smile.
But as they dropped lower, the ground below roaring up to greet them, any whispered trace of amusement vanished, replaced by true, soundless shock.
The Kreah borderlands looked as Mariah remembered them: vast expanses of rocky sands, a smattering of villages and outposts dotting up around wells and oases. What was not the same was the mass of people streaming across the plains, many leading wagons or riding on horseback.
And flying above the exodus was yet another dragon, midnight and silver scales glinting in the heat of the sun.
“Priam,” Rulene growled into Mariah’s head. The goddess usually felt so calm, composed, gentle. Now her frustration rippled off her in waves, seething like a sharp summer storm.
Their descent increased, Mariah’s stomach bottoming out as Rulene tucked her wings and dived for the sands. She spread them at the last second, great beats jerking them to a halt, stirring the warm air as her hind legs landed heavily.
Mariah eased her desperate grip around Rulene’s spikes, shaking slightly. A quick glance over her shoulder told her the others felt the same.
Rulene swung her aquamarine head. “Apologies,” she said, even as a regretful chuff worked its way from her throat. “I am not used to bearing others.”
Mariah tried to smile, but she knew it looked more like a grimace. “We’re all right. At least we’re still in one piece.”
“Speak for yourself,” grumbled Quentin, already sliding off the dragon’s back. When he landed, looking up at Mariah, his face was tinged a little green.
Rulene swiveled again, golden-yellow eye fixing on Mariah’s red-haired Armature. The green left him as he paled.
Mariah chuckled under her breath. She slid off Rulene’s smooth scales, landing with a thud in the sands. Everyone else clambered off as Callamus landed beside them, his descent much slower and gentler.
“He has always been more thoughtful than me,” Rulene whispered.
Mariah turned. “I find that hard to believe.”
Rulene huffed but did not answer.
A third set of wingbeats thrummed through the air, fast approaching where they’d landed at the edge of the village.
Priam circled above, releasing a triumphant roar. The caravans he led halted, sounds of shock and admiration echoing across the desert plains. The first of the travelers were several yards away, jaws dropping as the three creatures born again from myths and legend shifted and settled into the sands. There was something familiar about them, similar in the way only a people from the same area could look: the golden-toned skin, the roundness of their cheeks, the angles of their jaws?—
“Wait,” Mariah said, “are thoseOnitans?”
Even the items they carried and the clothes they wore—thicker, heavier materials not well-suited to life in the deep deserts—were typical for residents of central Onita. There were only a few who dressed more appropriately; perhaps residents of Kasia or any of the smaller towns that lay closer to Kreah.
“It certainly looks like it,” Callamus rumbled into her mind. Light and wind whirled as he and Rulene shifted, their human forms flanking Mariah.
A blast of hot wind and sand buffeted her face, drawing Mariah’s attention from the masses of Onitans. Priam landed with a practiced grace, chest puffed as if preening.
Rulene rolled her eyes.
With a blurring flash of starlight, Priam’s dragon vanished, replaced by a pale man with dark star-flecked hair, those same shimmering silver eyes, and a wide, proud grin stretched across his face.
“My friends!” he shouted warmly across the sands. “How wonderful it is to see you again!”
