Violet Stormwing's Arc

Chapter 27 of 46

The great hall swallowed the sound of Violet's boots. Kael sat at the head of a long table, gold chain bright against his dark coat. His scouts stood by the door. He waved a hand at the empty chair across from him. "You flew into my walls uninvited," he said. "Now show me why I shouldn't just keep the dragon and send you home." Violet stayed standing. "You want terms. So name what you want." "Simple." Kael leaned back. "The pink dragon roosts here. It flies under my banner. You get your name spoken in every hall." He spread his hands. "Refuse, and I take it anyway. It's in my courtyard. My men hold the gate." Her stomach dropped. He was right. She had flown the dragon into a cage of stone and soldiers. She had no fortress, no army, nothing to trade but the beast itself. Every term she could offer ended with him owning her flight. Then she saw it. Kael did not understand what he was asking for. "Take it," she said. "Chain it in your stables tonight. It carries no one. It bit six chains before mine and it will bite yours." She stepped closer to the table. "It flies free or it doesn't fly. That's not my rule. That's the dragon's." Kael's jaw tightened. His scouts shifted. They had seen the empty straps in the courtyard. "You keep me," Violet went on, "and you keep the only rider it obeys. Chain me out and you own a stone dragon that screams and starves. Which fame is that, my lord?" He was quiet a long moment. "So I hold you here as my rider." "No." She reached into her coat and set the blue stone on the table. It caught the light, its pale lines glowing. "That's from the wild nest. Proof I did what no rider ever managed. It's yours to display." She slid it toward him. "The dragons stay mine, and they stay free. I fly for you when you call. I answer to no chain. Those are my terms." Kael picked up the stone. He turned it slowly, and something in his face eased. A polished treasure he could show. A story he could tell. Fame with no beast that might tear his stables apart. "You give up your best proof so easily," he said. "I have the dragons," Violet said. "The stone is only rock." He set it down and looked at her for a long time. Then he nodded once. "Free flight. You answer my call. The rest of your brood stays out of my sight." He almost smiled. "You bargain like your father sold fish." Violet took her hand off the table. She had traded a stone for her flight's freedom. But Kael now knew there were more dragons hidden somewhere in his mountains, and he would want to see every one.