Fate of Dragons

Chapter Nineteen Part I

Tesa's foot slipped again and she bit back a curse. What had passed as a path at the beginning of their climb had soon disappeared, and their progress had devolved into a series of advances punctuated by sharp slips and slides backward in the loose gravel and tumbling rocks. She would have thought that she hadn't made any progress at all, except she had chosen certain rocks and plants as visual markers, and she eventually passed each one.

During their planning, Emric had explained that the cliffs around Diven's cave had been home to the dragons because they could only be reached by flying. That was what their lore said, anyway. They'd decided to attempt the climb anyway.

Tesa glanced up to the sky, hoping to catch sight of Orrie, even if he was only a speck. But she couldn't see him, and that was good. It meant that whatever shields the mages had given him were working. She wished the dragons could have just ferried them up to the caves, but the plan didn't work if they only arrived a few at a time. They had to arrive all at once, so they could use the element of surprise.

With all of the scraping and scrabbling they were doing trying to reach the caves, Tesa would have doubted that they could have maintained any element of surprise. The swearing and the rocks crashing down the slope below them should have signaled their presence to the Karume already. But this had been planned for. Their approach was being shielded by spells set by the first group of mages who had gone up. Every once in awhile, Tesa noticed one of their spell stones tucked safely in a crevice, or tied around the trunk of a hardy tree growing out of a crack in the rock face.

Nobody spoke. Tesa was behind Neela, and she focused on putting her hands and feet where Neela did, unless Neela's move provoked another rock to loosen and go crashing down. She hoped that nobody below her had gotten hit by any of the rocks she had dislodged. She hoped they were finding enough handholds.

Now that the sun had risen higher, Tesa felt it warm on her neck. She was so unused to the warmth in Yennar Lei. Even in summer, Enval had never felt this warm. There was always a cool breeze from somewhere, even on the sunniest of days. She focused on the shade she saw ahead of her and spurred herself on.

She could barely believe it when, suddenly, Neela climbed ahead of her and stood on flat ground, and her hands were reaching down to pull Tesa up. Tesa scrambled onto the flat ledge and stood. Her legs shook, but she made herself remain upright.

Kiana was the last one in their group to scale the slope. Once each of them had finished their climb, Malía led the way.

The scout mages had already been here ahead of them, laying the spells to hide them from the Karume—or, for that matter, from the dragons. Tesa still couldn't shake the feeling that someone could be watching, or that they could be attacked at any minute. She remembered the attack in Areth, when the dragons had been trapped inside the magic shield, and somehow, somewhere, Berick had been watching. His voice filled her thoughts, taunting her.

The dragons are mine.

Involuntarily, Tesa looked up, scanning the ridges above them. There was nobody there. She made herself breathe.

They rounded a corner and she flinched. A group of people crouched off to the side, in a grassy clearing among piles of boulders and a few scraggly trees. Tesa tried to calm herself. It was only the first group of mage scouts.

One of them stood and beckoned them into the clearing. They joined the group of mages away from the path. The mage who had beckoned them paced the perimeter of the clearing, checking and replacing spell stones. Tesa watched him, thinking how his ring of stones seemed uncomfortably familiar. It was like the magic that Berick had used to seal off the dragon dwell.