Fate of Dragons

Chapter Eight

Tesa folded back the light, squishy blankets on the bed and slid in between the smooth sheets. She wished she had a washbasin to clean off the grime of travel before climbing into such an inviting bed. She would have to ask after one tomorrow. The mattress and pillows sunk just enough under her weight. The far off sound of the waves lapping against the shore reached her ears, and the scent of the sea mingled with sweet-smelling flowers wafted in on a warm breeze as she closed her eyes.

Despite these comforts, Tesa could not fall asleep. Her toes twitched and her fingers ran over the neat hems of the sheets, back and forth. They'd come all this way through Yennar Lei, over their sparkling lakes and rivers and green forests, to this amazing city by the sea, and now she was supposed to sleep. How could she sleep when she should be searching for the dragons? They were in those mountains, she knew it. She could feel them looming in the distance.

She didn't have a good feeling about Emric, either. Despite their obvious awe over the dragons, Tesa couldn't help but think that the mages of Yennar Lei did not want the riders there.

Finally, after staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, Tesa got out of bed.

She was so used to opening doors out into frigid temperatures that when she left her room and felt no change in temperature, she glanced to the sky to be sure the courtyard really was open. With her mind, she poked at Orrie's and found him sound asleep. Smart dragon.

A tiled walkway hugged the edges of the courtyard, and at each corner narrow flights of stairs climbed to the next floor. A balcony ringed the second floor, providing a roof over the walkway down here. Tesa saw doors above on the balcony and wondered who slept there.

She wore slippers that had been provided in her room. They were made of some kind of woven basket-like material, and they slapped on the smooth steps as Tesa went up. Her nightdress swirled around her ankles and she hugged her woolen shawl around her as a breeze blew off the sea. So it did get a little cold here, sometimes.

The balcony level proved to have nothing of interest besides closed doors and potted plants, but there were more stairs, so Tesa took them.

At first she felt a jolt of fear when, arriving on the roof, she saw another figure standing there. But the figure turned, and Tesa saw that it was Kiana. Tesa wove through the potted plants, which abounded up here, too, and joined Kiana at the wall that bordered the edge of the roof. They sat together on the bench.

"You can't sleep either?" Tesa asked.

"What are the chances that we find them alive?" Kiana whispered, gazing over the bay toward the dark shape of the towering rocks, the four spires clawing toward the stars.

"They're alive," Tesa said. "If the Karume had wanted them dead, they wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to steal them away. They would have just killed them." She wondered if Kiana knew that this was where the door had led, if Malía had shared Tesa's thoughts with the rest of them. She thought about telling Kiana now, but after what had happened back in Areth, she didn't trust anyone enough to tell. Not yet.

"A bit of a mixed blessing," Kiana said. "Do you think they suffer?"

Tesa closed her eyes, remembering the rock dragons the Karume had tried to control with magic stones embedded in their skin, and Delaney, who'd been kidnapped by the Karume but who had then willingly accepted stones embedded in her own skin. She'd said the Karume used them to make her into a mage.

"It seems too much to hope that they didn't," Tesa finally answered. "But the sooner we find them, the sooner we can ease it. I hope they let us get on with our search without too many formalities."