Violet Stormwing's Arc

Chapter 26 of 46

The two riders wheeled their horses and vanished behind the ridge. Violet did not watch them go. She turned to the pink dragon and to Theo, still gaping in the flowers. "They'll ride straight to Kael," she said. "By nightfall he knows this hollow. We break camp now." Theo shook his head. "You can't move a whole flight in daylight. The soldiers spotted the pink dragon once. They'll be watching the sky." Violet already knew. The narrow crack that hid the hollow was too tight for horses, but a hollow was only a trap if you stayed. She counted her problem the way her father taught her to count catch. Two riders. Half a day's ride to the fortress. Riders would return with men and chains before the moon rose. She knelt and gathered the hatchlings, herding them toward the mother dragon. Then she stopped. Running only bought hours. Kael would chase her over every peak until she had no ground left. "We don't run," she said. "We go to him first." Theo grabbed her arm. "To the fortress? He'll chain every dragon you own." "He wants proof the wild dragon is bonded. I have it now." She pointed at the pink dragon, calm in the grass. "Two of his men saw it fly under me. If I hide, I'm a thief he hunts. If I come to him flying, I'm the rider who did what no one could." She left the mother dragon and hatchlings deep in the hollow, hidden behind the crack. Only the pink dragon would come. She climbed onto its back with no straps, one hand loose on its neck. It lowered a wing, then rose through the gap into open sky. They flew south all afternoon. The clifftop fortress sat on its jut of rock, towers wind-battered, red banners snapping. Violet brought the pink dragon down in the courtyard before the great gate. Soldiers scrambled back. Horses screamed. Lord Kael came out onto the steps. He wore his dark coat and gold chain, beard trimmed, eyes hard. His two scouts stood behind him, the same men from the ridge. He looked at the pink dragon and then at the girl on its bare back. "You brought it to me," he said slowly. "I sent men to drag you here." "You wanted the last wild dragon bonded." Violet slid down and stood at the dragon's shoulder. "No rider ever managed it. Chain it and it dies useless. It flies for me because it chose to." She stepped back and let the dragon stand free beside her, unbound. "That's your fame, my lord. A tamer, not a thief." Kael studied the loose dragon, the empty straps, the girl who had flown into his walls uncaught. His scouts waited for his order. He did not give it. "Come inside," he said. "We'll talk terms." Violet had traded the hidden hollow for the lord's own hall. The hunt was over. The bargain had only begun.