When the face vanished, I reached for the family tree, and instantly, the beating of drums returned. Our connections drummed and shimmered, their beats intensifying as I touched each and every one of them, looking for my next Dragon.
Knight, one from Dad’s Sky Legion.
Like four others, had answered my silent call from my mother’s womb, pledging loyalty to my father afterwards. Technically, he was mine, so I was here to find him.
Slamming against my ears, the tribal drums of war grew even louder, becoming overwhelming again and almost blinding me in their intensity.
Welcome it. Become it.
Instead of pushing it away, I fought through it, opening myself to them. The tribal song reached its climax, and then… and then… it stopped. The abrupt silence became louder than the song itself, until a single beat resurfaced. My own. Others joined in seamlessly, drums of war thumping together with mine. Beating as one.
With each thump, the energy grew stronger, and then it was suddenly on the move. My golden light rushed over the trunk and branches, rustling leaves as it dashed ahead where another light thrummed while it zipped through the tree.
It was him. He was here, and he was on the move.
“I got him! Go faster!”
My urgency sent all Dragons onwards, Harper and Evie yelping when Spike and Star shot forwards.
“What is happening?” Evie yelled at me, and I opened my eyes, focusing on the desert below us.
“We are chasing him!” I shouted back, my eyes noticing the clusters of carved lines along the sand returning, the same Kingston had pointed out as unnatural.
“Where?!” Evie asked, flabbergasted, her hair whipping around as she searched the sky.
Glancing at her, I grinned. “Not above, below!”
Tharion’s speed became staggering just as my attention returned to the dunes. Lines cut across the burnt orange ground ahead of us, carving waves along it, and a cluster of tiny horns peaked through the desert.
I had no idea how Knight was doing it, but the damn Dragon was soaring under the sand.
The golden thread burst like a firework in my mind’s eye, rising above all others, and trusting an instinct I didn’t even know, I jumped to my feet, running full throttle over Tharion’s head. My boot pushed off his nose, and I lunged into the empty air just as the onyx Dragon burst out of the ground, sending waves of sand to fly all around us.
Arms flailing, I landed on his lower back as he shot upwards, narrowly missing Tharion when their paths crossed. My body slammed against his scales, but I couldn’t find my footing, my hands reaching and failing to grasp the row of small horns that rose like spikes along the center of his body.
The tips sliced the skin off along my chest and arms while I fell towards his tail, tumbling down rapidly. Throwing my right hand up again, I caught one of the small horns, managing to hold on and stopping my fall.
My blood clouded his shiny black scales. Yet, as fast as it seeped out of me, the sliced skin knitted together again, the wounds no longer found.
Knight roared, shaking his body to throw me off him. Fat chance in Hell. I had come here for him, and I was not leaving without him.
“Stop this!” I shouted, climbing my way up to his neck. I didn’t know if he could hear me through the ruckus he and the others were causing.
Kingston and the guard called at me to let go of the seemingly wild Dragon. He was like a bull, bucking and throwing his body in all directions to get me off him, but I wasn’t going to let go. I wouldn’t let go.
Now, if only the onyx Dragon could stay still long enough for me to connect with him.
Finally reaching his neck, my hand glowed bright gold—matching the intensity in my eyes. He seemed to sense my magic because he suddenly stilled; I rose to my knees, pressing my hand against his scales—
Psych.
Knight bucked again, successfully lunging me off him.
Asshole.
Screams burst in the air when I crashed against a tall dune, the buttery sand softening my landing. My body bounced once, and then I rolled down the burning sands, too fast to truly feel their effects on my bare skin but long enough to still register the true danger. These dunes were more perilous than they seemed. They felt like hills of raging fire.
Tharion’s roar echoed through the Desertlands when I finally reached the bottom. Quickly, I pushed to my feet, but not before noticing the red burns along my hands and arms. Grunting, I dusted the granules off me, ignoring the pain long enough for the healing to kick in, and glanced up to find Knight surrounded.
Rows of sharp fangs gleamed all around him as Spartan, Alkor, Star, Fulgur, Spike, and Athina hissed and snarled at him. Knight turned within the circle, seemingly assessing his chances to escape… That was, until he faced Tharion. He reared back, recognition setting in, but instead of calming him, the sight of my Dragon father sent him into a rattled retreat.
Before I knew what was happening, he had somehow tackled Athina, Fulgur, and Spike out of the way, lunging straight for me—head lowered like a bull to ram me out of his path.
Seriously?
“Knight, stop fighting me!” I shouted, hand lifting, before he collided with me. A beam of magic exploded from my palm, sweeping over his entire form, and stopping him in his tracks.
Seemingly dazed by it, the onyx Dragon wavered on his feet, and when he blinked, my golden light captured his irises. The instant our connection took hold, his spine shot ramrod straight, and images flashed in front of my eyes.
A kingdom rose over the burnt orange dunes with Knight flying along the structure that I assumed was a castle, but its architecture was like nothing I had ever seen. It seemed made of sand and gold dust, even though it should be impossible. The multileveled castle stood tall under the gleaming sun, and multicolored fabrics flew from the balconies all around it—like African sarongs in bright reds, oranges, browns, and yellows. Ethnic symbols adorned the fabrics, a royal crest, and I knew then the Desertlands had been a rich, sovereign nation before Raithian’s cruelty and avarice destroyed it.
Knight flew across the bright sky once more before he shot into the buttery dunes, and I instantly understood these were his lands. He wasn’t hiding after we lost the battle and Dad took us away. He returned home, even if his home was no longer standing and waiting for him.
That also explained why he had the ability to somehow “fly” under the sand.
Other images replaced his origins until the memories settled on my mother.
She sat next to a grand waterfall sanctuary in the Greenlands, a hand lazily rubbing her swollen belly while her feet danced in the water. Dad sat next to her. Her belly wasn’t too large but given the way his eyes searched their surroundings every so often, I knew they had already hidden my mom from our people so no one could find out about me.
The trees to their left shook in the next moment, and their heads lifted to find Knight slowly coming out of the forest. Curiosity fluttered through him, pulling him to my mom by a force bigger than all of them. A satisfied grin captured Dad’s face, saying that wasn’t the first time I had called a Dragon to us, and perhaps, his outings with my pregnant mom were not at all a coincidence.
A wave of recognition, and a stronger emotion I couldn’t quite place, washed over me through the new bond just as the golden magic faded from Knight’s eyes. He blinked, shaking his head slowly.
“It cannot be,” Knight whispered, remaining away as though he didn’t want to let himself believe… or hope.