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“Our kind were made to ride dragons. You will learn to love it.”
I doubt that. It feels like we leave my stomach behind as we lurch into the air, but then it rebounds with a vengeance.
Zabriel wraps his cloak around me. This is absolutely the last time I’m getting on a dragon, and I won’t be getting this close to my captor ever again, but for now, I snuggle into him for warmth and that delicious sensation of sinking down, down, down into decadent comfort. I don’t know how he does that. It must be some kind of magic.
We’ve been flying for some time when Zabriel murmurs, “Sha’len, look. My home.”
I sleepily drag my eyes open, but I can’t make myself peel my cheek away from his chest. “Hmm?”
The sun has begun to rise.
I see it. Lenhale.
The dawn has painted the sky in shades of gold and blue and turned the underside of feathery clouds to blush pink. The landscape sweeps upward, and fields and forests turn into farms, which run up against a city wall. Within the walls, there are wide streets and twisting, turning laneways. Manor houses and rows of cottages. Walled gardens and orchards. Nothing seems to have been planned out, and yet everything fits together without a scrap of wasted space.
Crowning the city is a vast palace of creamy stone, lit golden by the sun with crenelated walls and pointed turrets thrusting up into the sky. The sight is breathtaking. Intimidating. I can’t imagine not getting lost inside that vast space. This is where the kings and queens of Maledin have dwelled for hundreds of years, yet Zabriel called this place his home.
Beyond the palace, there’s a shallow valley and a strip of bare ground before a cliff that rises steeply. It’s to this place that Scourge takes us. There are things moving about on the ground and the cliff face as well. Huge, strange things of many colors.
Dragons.
Dozens of the monsters.
My stomach lurches as we come into land, but thankfully I manage not to retch. The dust settles, and every dragon in the field or perched on the cliff is staring at us.
Zabriel follows my gaze. “They won’t hurt you. Dragons are as intelligent as you and me, and they understand that you’re welcome here.”
Zabriel carries me carefully down Scourge’s flank and places me on the ground. Half a dozen curious dragons have drawn closer and extended their heads on their long necks toward me. Their nostrils flare, and several have their jaws parted, revealing an alarming number of fine, sharp teeth.
“Are they smelling me?”
“Scent is important to all dragons and Maledinni.”
When a midnight blue dragon thrusts its head and shoulders past the others as if it means to eat me, I gasp and shrink back. Scourge roars at the blue dragon until it backs off. The other dragons move away as well. I wonder if Scourge is in charge of the…flock? Herd? He’s by far the largest of the dragons that I can see.
Zabriel puts a protective arm around my shoulder. “They won’t hurt you, but they can be overly curious. Come on, this way.”
He leads me through the field, which is a lot bigger on the ground than it looks from the air. The dragons stay back, but I can feel myself being watched by many pairs of bright, predatory eyes.
We cross a stone bridge over the valley, pass through a gate, and then we’re inside the towering castle walls made from pale stone.
“We only took the capital two days ago,” Zabriel explains as we pass through a courtyard with broken wooden fortifications in a scorched heap. “King Alaster fled and left it almost defenseless. The castle seems to be secure, but there will be many soldiers on guard while we brace for more attacks. You’ll be safe as long as you remain inside the walls.”
As we enter the castle, the various men and women on duty stand to attention and then bow as Zabriel goes by. How strange. I suppose he must outrank all these soldiers.
I try to keep track of which way we go, but I lose my way as fatigue overwhelms me, and we walk down dozens of corridors and up flights of stairs. Zabriel seems to know where we’re going, but I don’t think I could find my way back. This place is enormous.
“How do you know where we’re going?” I ask him with a yawn.
“I’ve walked these halls a thousand times before.”
We pass a flag hanging on a wall that I recognize as belonging to the dead king, the one to whom I was going to be sacrificed. Zabriel yanks it down with an angry snarl and grinds it beneath his boot.
Finally we reach a door, and Zabriel pushes it open. “I asked for this room to be prepared for you. I hope it’s to your liking,sha’len.”
While he was hunting for me, and before he even knew he’d find me? I peek inside and see a huge room with thick, ornate tapestries on the walls, an enormous fireplace, rugs, and a canopied bed heaped with blankets.
I’m not important enough for a room like this. Zabriel is trying to trick and humiliate me. I turn back to him, saying, “Please don’t make fun of me. Just take me to my real room so I can get some sleep.”
