Fate of Dragons

Chapter One

Deep green stretched below them as far as Tesa could see. Light glinted on water that ran in the rivers, showing through the gaps between the trees. Far off, Tesa saw wider glittering expanses of water. Lakes among the evergreen trees. With a thought, she urged Orrie to dip lower, to skirt the edges of the mountainside.

Not so close, Orrie admonished.

Tesa grunted. Orrie could be such a stickler for the rules now that he was getting bigger.

If I lose my flying rights, you do too, he reminded her.

I know, Tesa said. Orrie banked to the left to skirt the border between Arethia and Yennar Lei.

Since Orrie had regained his health after the Karume attack on the dragons, they had flown over the border between Arethia and Yennar Lei almost every day. Mountains formed the border, and great forests lay beyond the mountains on the side that belonged to Yennar Lei. Tesa yearned to take off, dive into the vast stretches of forest before her, and fly until she found the lost dragons.

If only they could be found so easily, as if all she needed were willpower. She knew that she and Orrie couldn't do it alone, but the official search party was taking so long to organize, she had begun to wonder if the search would ever happen at all. It seemed as if the king and his advisors had given up.

Tesa didn't remember it taking so long for all of the dragon riders to go in search of one missing egg and one guard when the Karume had taken them and almost succeeded in taking Tesa, too. Of course, now most of the dragons who lived in the capital city of Areth were missing, and it seemed as if their absence slowed down their own search parties.

One of the things they were waiting for, Tesa had been told, was for all of the dragon riders from the outposts around all of Arethia to report to the city of Areth. But even that seemed to take longer than Tesa had expected it to.

"Malía's going to lead the search," Kiana had said. "I'm only acting in her stead. I can't very well lead without a dragon, can I?" She said the last part with a sad shake of her head. Her dragon was one of those lost to the Karume attack and kidnapping.

Malía had yet to arrive from the outpost where she'd been stationed, so its normal riders could attend the ball. Tesa had thought that all of the dragon riders had come to Areth for the mage ball, the event during which the dragons had been kidnapped. It turned out, though, that several of the dragons had remained at the outposts so that the whole of Arethia wouldn't become defenseless. They took turns attending the mage balls in different years.

"But won't the outposts be unguarded now, when the dragons leave?" Tesa had asked.

Kiana's eyebrow had arched. "This is a special situation. It leaves us without many options."

So why was it taking the committee so long to discuss them? Kiana and Orema had made several vague comments about audiences with the king, but claimed they weren't able to tell her much else.

As usual, nobody shared anything important with her. Even though she'd been there through it all, and she'd had a key role in discovering the missing baby dragon and dismantling the shield that the Karume had put up around the dragon dwell. Tesa knew that she hadn't been following the rules when she'd done all that, but she thought she should be given at least a little credit.

"The king can't know what you did, Tesa," Kiana had said. "You would never fly again, and you definitely wouldn't continue training as a mage. Don't people in Enval know how bad it is to be caught practicing bound magic?"

"In Enval we don't know much about magic at all," Tesa said. "Or dragons. Not many people come our way."

The forests of Yennar Lei reminded Tesa of Enval, a little bit. The evergreens that climbed the lower mountain slopes, the rocky terrain, the lack of human habitation all around.