Corvus began the briefing. His voice was telepathic but broadcast at a volume that made even my scales buzz. “We havetracked Vaelog to three possible lairs. Each is heavily defended by traps and warded ground, but the pattern is clear. He returns to the central valley every night, always after sunset. He is targeting dragons by power to increase his own. It has made him more unstable, but also stronger.”
He flicked a claw, and a band of light circled a section of the map. It was a valley I remembered from the flight in, deep, shrouded, ringed by floating stones.“Our previous assaults have failed for three reasons,”he continued. “First, Vaelog’s ability to anticipate strategy. Second, his physical advantage, he is larger, faster, and more vicious than any dragon in recorded memory. Third, all the power he’s accumulated.”
Jax grunted, his skepticism practically a scent in the air. “So why haven’t you just bombarded the valley? You have numbers.”
Corvus bared his fangs, but the gesture was more pride than threat. “He always expects frontal assault. He has laid enchantments to redirect fire and poison, even to collapse the cliffs if necessary. He has made this area a fortress for himself.”
“Hailey and Jax, you are the unknown,”said Solenne, her gaze flicking to us.“He will not be prepared for your hybrid abilities.”So she did know we weren’t born dragons. Okay.
Adalinda leaned in, her mind-voice resonant.“He’ll have watched for you, Corvus. For me, even. But if the attack comes from above, with a new dragon at the vanguard, we have the element of surprise. Hailey and Jax are the spearpoint.”
I nodded, catching the thread. “You want us to lure him out. Draw him away from the defenses, then hit him with the sword.”
Corvus and Solenne exchanged a glance. The rest of the plan, I realized, had already been written in the air between them.
“You will not be alone,”said Solenne.“We will flank from the ridges. Once he is exposed, we close the trap.”
Adalinda added,“The gauntlets, when ready, will be critical. Vaelog’s magic is anchored in his claws. Without them, he is weakened.”
Flint piped up, his mind-voice bright.“I want to be bait! I can fly fast, and I don’t even care if he chases me!”
The entire room paused, the way a room full of people might when a toddler volunteers to wrestle a tiger. Then a telepathic pulse of amusement ran through the crowd, and Flint basked in it.
“You will be important, little one,”said Solenne.“But for now, you must watch and learn.”
Flint nodded, entirely satisfied.
Jax unwrapped the blade and laid it on the table, the edge humming with readiness. “How do we know it’ll work?”
“We do not,”said Corvus.“But we believe.”
“Testing is overrated,” I said, running a finger along the hilt. “Sometimes you have to just go for it.”
Adalinda and I shared a look, and I could tell she was already assembling a thousand contingencies behind her eyes. Solenne took a step back, wings flaring. “The first move is yours, Queen. Name your attack.”
Adalinda’s mind was a sharp, cold beam. “We fly the day the claws are ready. Corvus and Solenne, you take the left andright ridges. Hailey and Jax, you go straight in, high and fast. I will follow, and when Vaelog is in the open, I will cut him off from retreat.”
Solenne gave a ceremonial dip of her snout. The table vibrated with the energy of the plan. Every dragon in the room absorbed the information, adjusted to it, and accepted it as law.
Jax rolled his shoulders. “I assume we’re sleeping in the stables?”
Solenne and Corvus looked nearly offended. They didn’t get the joke. “Of course not.You will have your own quarters next to the Queen’s,” said Solenne. “I’ve arranged for sustenance appropriate to your needs.”
Jax raised an eyebrow at me. “That means what I think it means?”
“Blood popsicles,” I said, unable to suppress a grin.
He snorted, and the cloud of sulfurous steam he exhaled made Flint giggle uncontrollably.
After a dinner of what I was fairly sure was donated dragon blood, which wasextremelydelicious, by the way, I spent an hour practicing with the sword, in human form, in dragon, and in between. The castle’s training grounds had been built for this, with rings of obsidian targets set at every possible height. The sword felt alive in my hands, not heavy but insistent, always nudging me to use it, to unleash it, to cut through something. I ran drills with Jax, him as attacker, me as defender, then the reverse. The dragons watched, their approval running in low, unspoken currents. But they really roared with applause when I used my special vamp power to manipulate metal and had the sword move on its own.
When I tired, I shifted into my dragon form, went out onto the balcony that overlooked the valley, and watched the clouds. Adalinda joined me after a while, silent, her presence enough to make me feel steadier. I said without looking at her, “You really think this will work?”
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she flexed her wings, stretched them until the joints popped, and said, “We won't know until we try. But I trust you. More than I trust anyone else.”
That, more than anything, frightened me. The weight of her expectation was heavier than the sword, heavier than all of Ayrathys.
A flicker of motion caught my eye, Flint, circling the ramparts with a flock of younger dragons, every one of them shrieking in joy as he out-maneuvered, out-climbed, out-dove the rest. He would be okay, no matter what happened.“I thought they said there weren’t young ones here?”I asked.
