Shattered Birthright - Heirs of the Dragon Throne 1

Chapter 4

Sorelle

The smell of smoke reached Relle before she could properly sort out what had just happened. She was still trying to convince herself she hadn't really heard a voice in her head—that the strange feeling in her chest had been imagination, that the dragon's eye hadn't really—

"Look!" Pio was practically bouncing now, his recovered strength making him bold. "You can still see them! They're heading toward the mountains, but maybe they'll come back and—"

"Quiet." The word came out sharper than she'd intended. But something about the smoke tickling her nose felt wrong. Not cook-fires or the usual reek of the tanneries. This was different—sharp and metallic, like lightning had struck too close, with a peculiar sweetness underneath that made her think of incense from forgotten temples. There was a wild magic to it that set her teeth on edge, as if the very air remembered what it meant to burn in a dragon's wake.

Kai had been watching her with that same unsettling expression he'd worn at the temple, but now his head snapped toward the window. "That's not normal smoke."

Relle was already moving, scaling back up to her perch. The dragons were indeed retreating toward the mountains, but they'd left something behind. In the cramped streets of the merchant quarter, orange flames licked up the side of a building. As she watched, an ember carried on the wind caught the thatch of another roof.

"How bad?" Maven was already gathering their emergency packs, which they kept ready for when the city guard did their periodic "cleaning" of the tower.

"Bad enough." Relle tried to calculate the distance and the direction of the wind. "Fire's spreading fast. If it jumps to the chandler's shop—"

"All that tallow," Finn finished grimly. "Half of Lowtown could go up."

"The temple has water reserves." Kai moved to stand beneath her perch, one hand on the worn stones as if he might climb up himself. "And healing supplies for the burns. I could—"

"You really think they'll waste temple water on Lowtown?" Relle didn't bother keeping the bitterness from her voice. She'd seen how these things played out before.

The city bells changed their tune, switching from the deep dragon warning to the rapid clang of fire alert. Below, people were already pouring into the streets, some carrying buckets, others just their most precious possessions.

"We need to move," Relle said, already reaching for Pio. The boy came willingly, his earlier excitement replaced by wide-eyed fear. "Maven, take the children down the back way. Head for the river district."

"And you?" The resigned tone in Finn's voice suggested he already had his answer.

"Someone has to warn the chandler." Relle passed Pio to Maven, trying not to think about how light he still felt, how recently the fever had nearly taken him. "And the rest of Crow's Alley. They might not hear the bells over the workshop noise."

"I'm coming with you," Kai said. When she started to object, he added, "I know healing. And I can help coordinate with the temple district if—" He hesitated. "When they decide to help."

Relle wanted to argue, but another gust of wind brought thicker smoke and the sound of splintering wood. No time for debates about trust or territory.

"Fine. Finn—"

"I know," he said. "I'll make sure they get to the safe house. Meet us there when you can." The look he gave her carried years of shared understanding. Be careful. Come back. Don't do anything stupidly heroic.