Violet Stormwing's Arc

Chapter 35 of 46

Odette's warning came true faster than Violet feared. By the fourth morning, the wild dragon would not settle. It paced the grass. It clawed the earth. It stared at the sky and beat its wings, lifting off the ground before Violet grabbed its foreleg and pulled it down. The pale wolf circled, ears flat. The valley walls could hold the dragon's body, but not its restless heart. If it climbed above the rim, Kael's riders would spot it from miles off. Violet had calmed the pink dragon with moon-flowers once. She tried them now. She held the pale blooms to the wild dragon's nose. It sniffed, then snorted, and turned away. Flowers were not enough for this one. It did not want to sleep. It wanted to fly, and no scent would stop that hunger. She remembered the dark flower Kira had given her. That had bonded the dragon, but she had none left. She needed something the dragon could keep. Something to hold its attention inside the walls. Her hand went to her pack, where the last of her trade goods sat wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped an orange gem. It caught the morning light and threw it back, bright as a small sun. She had meant to sell it for meat. She held it up now, and the wild dragon froze. Its eyes locked on the stone. Slowly, it lowered its head toward her open palm. Wild dragons hoarded treasure. She had seen it in the mother's cave, in the blue stone the whole flight had followed. This one had slept on stolen gold for years. Violet set the gem in the grass at the valley's center, near the pool. The dragon crept to it. It curled its body around the stone and pressed one claw over the glow, guarding it. Its wings folded. Its breathing slowed. It had something worth staying for. Violet backed away. For a long hour she watched. The dragon did not rise. It stroked the gem with its snout and settled deeper into the grass. The wolf lay down beside the pool. The restless pacing was done. She had traded a jewel for the dragon's stillness, and it had worked. But the fix was small, and she knew it. A dragon that guarded treasure would grow fierce about it. It would want more. One gem would not feed that greed forever, and she had no fortune to bury in the grass. When the dragon tired of a single stone, it would fly to find others. She had bought days, not safety. Violet climbed out through the narrow crack in the rim. She would need real treasure to keep the dragon rooted, more than she could carry. There was one man in these mountains who kept a fortress full of it. She turned south, toward Kael's stronghold, and started the long walk to ask a lord for gold.