Despite this positive development, the messenger’s report worried her. The thunderbirds were leaving their island, and the dragons were attacking one another. If the Lightning was truly causing all this, their effort to contain the substance may already be too late.
5
The weather still hadn’t calmed when Tamri arrived in the palace courtyard the next morning. She wore a plain brown tunic and boots, and she’d donned the black and white striped scarf Kay had given her to protect her from the chill wind. The sky was the gray of ram’s wool, coarse and heavy, and a steady downpour had flooded the courtyard overnight. The stewards worked diligently to drain the walkways, but the water just kept coming.
Tamri had slept poorly thanks to the rain hammering her window and her worries about Laini. Despite her Watermight healing, the sea-green dragon couldn’t fly with her injured wing. Leaving her behind felt like an unlucky start to the journey.
Tamri considered cancelling the trip entirely when she saw the substitute Heath had chosen to carry her to Pendark.
“Rook,” she said flatly. “You want me to ride Rook.”
The scarlet dragon glowered at her, lashing his tail and splashing muddy water on a passing steward.
“He’s strong enough to handle the stormy weather,” Heath said as he adjusted the leather straps crisscrossing the dark-red scales on Rook’s powerful chest and tightened the girth straps under his scarlet wings and belly. The harness would hold Tamri’s travel pack in place and give her something to grab during what was sure to be a bumpy flight. “And he hasn’t shown a hint of aggression.”
Rook caught Tamri’s eye and gave a low growl.
She edged back a step. “Are you sure about that aggression thing?”
“He’s always like that,” Heath said.
“Great,” Tamri muttered. “This is going to be fun.”
Rook flicked his scarlet wings at her in a gesture that was probably meant as an insult. The dragons had their own way of communicating with humans, but Tamri and Rook hadn’t talked much since she tried to steal Watermight from him back in Pendark. And sort of accidentally kidnapped him in the process.
Boru waited patiently beside Rook, rainwater shimmering on his beetle-blue scales and snow-white wings. He gazed at Tamri and the red dragon with his soulful, jet-black eyes, as if he too found Heath’s choice perplexing. Tamri walked over to offer him a sweet roll she’d stolen from the kitchens. Boru accepted the roll courteously and pressed his nose to her cheek, his meaty breath ruffling her hair. Tamri had more sweet rolls stashed in her pockets, but she didn’t give one to Rook.
Heath finished with the harness and turned his full attention to Tamri. He’d cleaned the dragon blood from his coat, and he looked neat and tidy despite the rain.
“I have something for you.” Heath pulled a slim metal stick about the length of his forearm from his pocket. A sphere of Fire glowed at the end, like a more delicate version of his Fire cudgel. “You can use this to signal me in flight.”
Tamri took the Firestick, warmth spreading through her fingers from the magical substance solidified within it. There was a raised design on the end. A glowing golden dragonfly.
Tamri drew in a breath. “Where did you get this?”
“I asked Queen Dara to make it,” Heath said. “You wear that pewter dragonfly in your hair sometimes.” He scuffed his boots in the wet gravel and cleared his throat gruffly. “If you don’t like it—”
“I love it.” Tamri showed him her oilskin travel pack, where she’d secured the pewter pin that morning. “That dragonfly is my grandmother’s.”
“Oh. Well, good.” Heath grinned, as pleased as a boy who’d just caught his first krellfish. “Do you remember all the signals?”
“Uh . . . maybe?”
“But we need those to communicate while we’re flying,” he said worriedly. “They’re very—”
“I know, I know. Very important. Here’s the one for danger.” Tamri brandished the Firestick, and light blazed between them, pushing back the morning gloom. “And this one means . . . uh . . . fly lower.”
“Descend.”
“Right. And this one . . .”
Tamri demonstrated all the communication signals she remembered from her first dragon journey. Danger. Descend. Steady on. Scouting ahead. Heath corrected her movements and taught her additional signals specific to a flight over open water. They wouldn’t be able to hear each over the howling wind.
By the time they finished, the rain wasn’t falling quite as heavily. The dragons huffed and snorted, eager to be on their way.
“Are you sure I can’t ride Boru?” Tamri said as Heath attached his own travel pack to the beetle-blue and white dragon’s harness.
“He’s particular,” Heath said. “You and Rook will be fine. I have faith in you.”
“Doesn’t mean I deserve it,” Tamri muttered.
Heath blinked, and Tamri wished she hadn’t said anything. He didn’t need reminding of how she’d betrayed his faith in her before. She’d spied on the Vertigonians for months on King Khrillin’s orders, and now that they were flying back to Khrillin’s realm, Heath had to be wondering whether she’d consider returning to his service, Watermight Oath or no Watermight Oath. After all, he’d chosen the one dragon least likely to let her escape.
“I want to make progress before the rain picks up again,” Heath said. “Go ahead and mount.”
Tamri pivoted the Firestick, forming the Ready symbol. She was as ready as she’d ever be.
She took a deep breath, wrapped her scarf a little tighter around her neck, and approached the red dragon. Rook was larger than Laini, with sharper teeth and a worse personality. The crest of scarlet feathers on his head raised warningly as she drew near.
“Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Rook stared at her, his bronze eyes reflecting the light from her Firestick. She tried not to think about how terrifying their first flight had been as she reached for the harness.
Suddenly, Rook sneezed. Tamri leapt back in surprise, raising the dragonfly Firestick defensively. But she couldn’t keep her balance on the slick ground. Her feet flew out from under her, and she fell, landing square in the middle of a puddle.
Rook chortled—and not in a friendly way. Tamri gritted her teeth and picked herself up out of the mud. She refused to let him bully her. She marched to his side and seized the harness.
“Hold still, you big—”
Rook shuffled backward, dragging Tamri off her feet. She clung to the harness, boots filling with sludge as he hauled her across the courtyard.
“Stop!”
Rook stopped going backwards and switched to side-stepping, then rocking on his haunches, making it impossible for Tamri to get her feet under her.
“Don’t do that, you—” Scarlet feathers swept across her face, itching her nose and sticking to her tongue. She spluttered and coughed. The harness cut into her hands. More mud clumped in her boots.
Rook wheezed, finding the whole thing terribly funny. Tamri would show him something funny. But he wouldn’t stand still long enough for her to haul herself up. He started toward a particularly deep and muddy puddle, cackling madly.