A ripple spread through the air, a tightness that hissed and snapped, growing wider and stronger with each pulse. The dim starlight above bent with it, trembling as though the very realmitself had shifted and the ground beneath Cressyda’s feet hummed, as the magic melded together, twisting into a new, single bond.
It was done.
The Great Dragon’s wings twitched and flexed, unfurling. The webbed membranes stretched open with a leathery slap, patterned with scars and veins.
Cressyda inhaled, as if she had shocked even herself. She almost staggered to the ground in pure relief.The King is on his way down the mountains, returning to—she began.
I know who walks my mountains,interrupted the Great Dragon.First, I will fly over the city and remind your people of my presence. It has been three hundred winters since they have seen my strength.
The Great Dragon threw back its head and roared. The sound was deafening, an ancient bellow that reverberated across the mountains and valleys like an avalanche of rock.
We have our agreement, Mountain Princess.
Cressyda stumbled into a low bow, her ears still ringing with the creature’s immense howl, her body shaking with relief.
The Great Dragon’s claws dug into the stone ridge, curling with anticipation. Then, with a shriek that split the night sky, it sprang forward, power coiling through its body. Its wings caught the air and hurled it upwards in a single, mighty leap.
Cressyda shielded her face as wind and heat blasted over her.
The Great Dragon arced through the air, swooping in a graceful curve, then plunged into the valley below, a vast shadow melting into the deeper dark. Within moments, it vanished from sight.
Cressyda stood on the ridge, the last traces of magic still flickering in her fingers, the weight of history pressing down upon her shoulders.
Alinore
ALINORE SAT AGAINSTa rock. Her body trembled, her bones seeming to rattle with the last shattering roar of that beast. The sound had torn through the mountains, as though Calestra itself had been ripped open and stitched shut again in a single, terrifying breath. Though the creature had gone now, Alinore could still feel its disturbing, magnificent presence, and her gaze remained fixed upon the darkness below where it had disappeared, every nerve fizzing with fear that it might return.
‘Cress?’ she called, her voice hoarse.
Alinore had just watched stunned as her friend had approached the Great Dragon, a small, fragile figure against the enormous strength of that ancient creature. Cressyda had stood squarely before it, bare-footed, unarmed and seemingly unafraid. With tendrils of her black hair rippling around her face, she had fluttered her hands and tilted her head, and it was only when the Great Dragon had snorted and growled in response that Alinore had realized her friend must be speaking with the creature. She had watched thesilent, incomprehensible back and forth of their conversation, her heart hammering in her chest, her throat choking with terror, fearing that at any moment the Princess would be destroyed.
‘Cress?’ she called again.
She made to rise, but her leg throbbed and she collapsed back to the ground with a cry. Pain lanced through her, and her hand instinctively went to the wound, blood warm beneath her fingertips. The earth under her was scorched and hot, still radiating the Great Dragon’s heat like the sun-baked stones of the castle courtyards in midsummer.
The Princess turned. ‘Alinore!’ she shouted, hurrying over. She ran, half stumbling along the ridge, and threw herself on to her knees beside her friend. ‘Why did you come after me?’ she cried. ‘You could’ve been killed!’
Of all the things Cressyda might have said, that was not what Alinore had expected.
‘That’s … that’s some thanks!’ she spluttered back, raising her head with a scowl. ‘You could’ve been killed too!’
Cressyda pursed her lips. ‘I had a plan—’
‘It didn’t seem to be working out for you!’
‘Well, I just needed a bit more time—’
‘You were about to be eaten by that other dragon! The first one.’
Alinore sucked in a breath as another slice of pain shot through her leg. Her fingers trembled as she pressed them against the bloody gash.
‘You’re hurt,’ said Cressyda, the fight draining from her voice. She reached out, brushing away Alinore’s hand to see the wound. ‘You need help.’
Alinore tried to ignore the pounding agony of her leg. ‘Cress,what just happened?’ she asked. ‘The Great Dragon was here and it almost looked like you were … talking to it?’
Cressyda did not reply at first. She dropped her chin, then wiped the back of her hand across her cheek, and Alinore saw tear tracks shimmering in the moonlight. ‘I can speak in another language,’ she replied, her voice shaking. ‘I have the Sight, or something like it. I don’t really understand it.’
Alinore blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend what she had just heard. ‘What do you mean? What’re you talking about?’
