Agreat wall made of smooth, white-gray stone stood before them high enough Layala squinted to see the top. Wind rustled around the thick pine trees of the surrounding forest, and the river at their backs babbled, but no sounds of civilization, no chatter, or even smells of a city drifted over the wall. Were they in the right place? The portals hadn’t made mistakes before so this must be where the dragon king resided… or once resided.
“It’s so quiet,” Piper said with a fist on her hip. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think there was no one on the other side.”
“Maybe they wait to come out until they’re hungry,” Fennan said with a smirk.
Leif and Siegfried both tossed pinecones at him, nailing him square in the face and chest. Tifapine shrieked from within the bag on Phantom that she’d remained hidden in since they stepped through the portal and said goodbye to Aunt Evalyn.
“Bad joke?”
“Yes, since I have a very real fear of being eaten,” Leif said, “Nana’s stories about the sirens were true. She said dragons love to eat elves and pick their teeth with our bones.”
Although Layala put on long sleeves against a slight chill, it was surprisingly warm in this part of the Sederac Mountains. Surrounded by spruce, pine, and fir trees, it smelled fresh and untouched by people. Snow topped the tallest peaks in the distance but here in this valley, green grass swayed in the breeze and wildflowers blossomed.
“Doesn’t look like there’s an easy way in,” Fennan said, shielding his eyes from the bright sun as he peered up. The wall was nearly seamless, and she didn’t like the idea of trying to scale it with the use of her vines. It left them too vulnerable against beasts with wings.
Layala watched Thane for any signs of fear or nervousness. His stoic expression as he inspected the barrier before him gave nothing away. Was he not afraid of being ripped apart by dragons, especially after what Varlett did to him? The worry gnawing at the back of her mind was constant. She’d almost lost him to a dragon once. He was a valiant warrior and extraordinarily gifted but was he a match for these beasts? They couldn’t even take down Varlett, and inside waited hundreds, maybe even thousands of vicious dragons like her. They would be at the mercy of the dragon king, and they’d have to rely on intellect rather than brute strength this time.
With his fingers gliding along the stone, Thane walked to an area with a thin, straight line that ran up the entirety of the wall. Several feet over another crack in the stone ran from top to bottom. “I think this is a door.”
“The grass around it hasn’t been disturbed in a long time,” Fennan pointed out. “It either opens inward or they don’t use it.”
“Why would they need to use it? They fly.” Leif stepped back under the canopy of a nearby pine tree. He pulled a small brown sack from his hip pouch and dug his hand inside. He popped a handful of nuts into his mouth and chomped loudly. “Should we scout along the wall for a way in?”
Thane pressed his lips firmly together, looking toward the heavens. “It might be better to wait for them to come to us rather than sneak inside. I know if I found intruders stepping on the grounds of castle Dredwich I’d treat them as such.”
“Wait to be eaten?” Leif said. “I’m not going out like that. Nah I’ll die on a battlefield hopefully many years from now. I’m only seventy-three.”
“Wait to be invited inside by their leader,” Thane said, raising a challenging brow. “If I thought we’d all die coming here, I wouldn’t have led you here. My gut tells me they’ll talk to us before they attack, and well, if they attack first, we’ll fight back.”
“Something tells me they won’t be as civilized as elves,” Fennan said.
Piper folded her arms and laughed. “No shit, their alternate form is a dragon.”
“Civilized is subjective,” Thane said, leaning his back on the wall. “The woodland elves think we’re barbaric.”
Leif dropped to the base of a needled tree, leaned his head back, crossed his ankles, and closed his eyes. “Alert me when something exciting happens.”
Thane smiled while shaking his head and started walking alongside the wall, inspecting it carefully. Maybe he thought he’d find a way to get the door open.
Fennan and Siegfried went to the river to fill canteens, and that left Piper and Layala alone. She’d wanted to talk to her for days without prying ears. Layala glanced at Leif resting against the tree trunk. He probably wasn’t actually asleep and the topic she wanted to talk to Piper about involved him. She touched Piper’s arm. “Let’s go help Thane.” On their walk, Layala asked, “So, what’s going on with you, Fennan and Leif?”
Piper kept her gaze forward. “Nothing. Why?”
“You and Fennan seem closer, and everyone saw that Leif and Fennan were about to fight back on the island. They’ve never butted heads before.”
Piper ran delicate fingers over the length of her thick braid. She cleared her throat, and they stopped beside Thane. He tapped his finger against an inscription. The long curling and sweeping symbols were the only blemishes on the wall. It was unreadable to Layala, and she didn’t think the others would know the language either.
Thane turned and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, one boot heel behind him. So casual and cool as if they didn’t wait at the base of a monumental wall built by fire-breathing beasts. “Yes, I’d like to know the answer to that as well, Piper. Why are Fennan and Leif fighting over you?” Thane asked. “Fennan hasn’t said a word.”
Piper rolled her eyes. “You two are nosey.”
“As if you weren’t on my ass every day when Layala and I didn’t get along. Asking if we’d held hands, kissed, analyzing our interactions.”
A bright-pink blush spread across her lightly-freckled cheeks. “That’s different. You quite literally could have turned into a pale one if you two didn’t love each other… But I might have been a little too involved.”
“So you’re not going to tell us what happened in the dungeons?” Thane said. “Because I know something happened, Piper. You and Fennan have been friends, but this is different.” Thane turned back around, sliding his fingers over the carved symbols. “I wonder what this says,” he murmured.
“Hell if I know. Probably: Beware, you’ll be burned to a crisp if you enter here,” Piper said and then she groaned. “And as far as Fennan and I, we were kept in cells next to each other. The guards came into mine to beat me several times for information and each time Fennan provoked them, so they’d go beat him instead of me. I begged him to stop protecting me after they broke his arm. I thought they would kill him.”
“But he didn’t stop,” Thane assumed.
“Of course he didn’t. He’s a pigheaded fool.” Her eyes fell to the ground. “On the last night before we left, he was lying on the ground unable to get up. I was crying because I thought that was it. That he wouldn’t get up ever again. It was dark and I could barely see his chest rising,” her voice broke. “He said ‘if we don’t ever get out of here, I need you to know I love you, Piper. I’ve loved you since I was seventeen.’”
Thane’s eyebrow popped up. “And you told him how you felt then too?”
“I tried but he lost consciousness after that. And then we were taken on the road in separate prison carts.”
There was something she wasn’t saying because there was a reason they weren’t openly together. Layala folded her arms. “And you still haven’t told him, have you?”
She swiped her fingers across her cheeks. “I’m scared he only said it because he thought he was dying, or he was delusional from fever. What if he didn’t mean it? He hasn’t said it again or talked about it. Not a word, not a move, not a kiss.”
Thane sighed. “Maybe he hasn’t brought it up because he thinks you don’t feel the same. You should tell him. Or are you not sure anymore because of Leif?”
“Leif and I flirt, always have but it’s just fun.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that on his part,” Thane said, his green eyes drifting to where Leif sat at the base of the tree. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and so has Fennan, no doubt.”
An earthshaking dragon’s roar drew their eyes to the sky. Layala fought the urge to slap her hands over her ears. Three dragons flew out from behind the wall and circled high above them. Holy Maker above, Layala’s heart crashed into her ribs. She wanted to run for cover. All she could think about was Varlett and how much destruction and power a single dragon had. Now there were three.
“Stay still,” Thane ordered. “If we run, they’ll see us as prey. We are not prey.”
Under the cover of the trees the horses neighed and bucked, but thankfully they were secured. Layala wanted to run to grab Tifapine, but she was safer staying hidden.
The others dashed in, forming a circle of their own. Layala grabbed Thane’s hand and squeezed tight to keep herself planted firmly in place because she very much felt like prey. Her magic wouldn’t save her against three beasts who could burn her vines with fire breath and slice through the stalks with dagger-sharp claws. Her blade was useless against dragon scales. They were only weakened in human form, something she didn’t think they’d risk. It seemed they were at the mercy of predators honed to tear through flesh with ease.
Three sleek forms darted toward them like a hawk might dive for a mouse. Layala’s knees went weak. They dropped so fast that their huge bodies were hard to track. Her breath hitched when the trio crashed into the ground, boom boom boom one right after the other. The earth beneath the elves’ feet rocked and shifted. Big yellow eyes with black slits stared back at her, a cat with a mouse. With a gulp, Layala took a step away but froze when a low growl rumbled behind her. Smoke rolled out of the nostrils of the colossal beast before them. Bright pearl scales shimmered in the sunlight like tiny jewels. Horns as tall as Layala grew out of a massive head with jaws wide enough to snap up even Thane in a single bite. The dragon was both beautiful and terrifying, like lightning that streaked too close across a night sky.
“Trespassers in our land get eaten.” The deep masculine voice rumbled right through her core, but it wasn’t the dragon in front of her. Layala whipped her head around to the left where the half-human, half-dragon giant of a male stood. Charcoal-gray scales covered where skin would be, great membranous wings spanning at least twelve feet wide spread behind his frame. Was he over seven feet tall? He towered over Thane by at least a head. Light-silver hair was tied back into a tight braid that reached the top of his thighs. He wore a red waistcoat perfectly formed to his muscular physique, with gold embroidered trim around the wrists and down his chest. Black trousers with knee-high boots. Layala was surprised to find no weapons on him, at least none that she could see.
Thane held up his palms in a surrender gesture. “My name is Thane Athayel. I am—”
“The elf king.” The half-shifted dragon cocked his head to the side, in an almost bird-like way. “Or traitor king, depending on who you ask. I’m aware.”
Thane pursed his lips. “I ask for an audience with your king.” He sounded calm and confident, nothing like Layala felt.
A hot puff of breath washed across Layala’s back, billowing her hair and sending a wave of fear through her body. How close was the dragon now? She felt like he was inches from touching her. Don’t turn around, don’t turn around.
“On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that I am a king and what I have to say is for his ears only. But I will say it has to do with the Black Mage.”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “We have no obligations in your war.”
“No one knows better than I that you’d rather hide in your mountains behind high walls like cowards than help us against a great enemy.”
Layala almost choked in surprise. Maker above, did he truly say that? She wanted to smack him. The growl behind them made the ground shake, and yet the half-shifted dragon burst out laughing. Piper took a small step closer to Layala’s side. Siegfried whispered something that sounded like a threat.
“I heard the great Thane Athayel had no fear. Usually rumors are but that.” He smiled revealing white, human-looking teeth and took a step, and then another circling around them. His animal-like eyes spent a fair amount of time assessing Thane then his attention drifted to Layala. The corner of his mouth twitched, his slit pupils narrowed, and his nostrils flared. He lurched for Layala. In a flash, Thane’s fingers cinched around the dragon’s neck, and he stood between her and the threat. “Touch her and I’ll rip your throat out,” he snarled. “Don’t think your dragon scales will save you from me.”
