I’d trip and fall and break my neck.
I glance at Elder Arcon. “You fight?”
Elder Arcon smiles. “We ensure the one who walks the path does not walk alone.”
I frown. “Why am I here?”
Elder Arcon gestures at the two monks. “To meet our dragon trackers and learn from them so you can assist the General on her journey.”
I look between the three men. “I thought it’s her path to walk alone. Shouldn’t you be briefing her about it?”
Elder Arcon nods. “We will. In time.” Slowly, he approaches the table with the terrain carving. “You’re right, it’s the General’s path to walk alone. But you’re the Blood Sentineal. While you live, no path the General takes, no journey she embarks on, will she be alone.”
He says it neutral enough that I don’t think he considers this to be a disadvantage or disrespectful of their traditions.
Elder Arcon jerks his chin at the tabletop. “Tracking the dragon is only part of it. The easiest part. The real challenge is the process.”
I come closer to the table and inspect the detailed carving. So many valleys, mountain rivers, and dark caves.
“Phoenix is strong,” I say, looking up. “She can handle everything this journey throws at her. And I’ll damn ensure it.”
Elder Arcon’s gaze is unwavering. It’s as if he looks at me and sees straight to my soul.
“When she faces a dragon, what will you do?”
I blink, taken aback by the unexpected question.
The answer comes to me easily. “Stand by her side, of course. Protect her. Fight for her, if I must.”
It’s the answer that feels right in my heart. In the very center of my soul.
But I know it’s the wrong answer the moment it leaves my lips.
“If you even try to approach the dragon, it’ll end you. From what I’ve observed so far, it won’t bode well with the General. So I’d advise against it.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
The warning is clear.
The weight of reality, of why we’re here and what we must do, settles over me.
I look between the wall of steel and Elder Arcon. “So what am I supposed to do?”
He counters my question with his. “If the dragon rejects her and she breaks…what will you do?”
I stare at him for a heartbeat.
Can that happen? Is it possible that Nix’s dragon will reject her?
I can’t even begin to fathom the consequences of that.
I tilt my chin. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t break.”
“Your bond is not a traditional Blood Sentineal bond,” he says. “That may prove to be either your strength, or your downfall.”
My heart thunders inside my rib cage.
There’s no world or scenario in which it doesn’t end in a tragedy. Kazh’s words echo in my mind.
