Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 64: Arguments

She huffed. "Callah has her secrets, even from me. She told me what I needed to know about katalnis and mindstones and stuff, but she never told me you're one of them." The way she said 'one of them' made me think she thought my loyalties might not lie with Lykela.

"'One of them?' Really? You think I came all the way here just to betray Lykela?"

"What other reason could you have for wanting to free the mindstones and put us all in danger?"

"I told you, I want to help the dragons." But it wasn't just that. Once upon a time, I'd wanted to be a great Lykelan hero, but the only heroes I could think of were the same kind of people who would kill me and Clarisa on sight if they knew what we were. "I don't want to hurt the bipeds of Lykela any more than the dragons, but I can't say they would feel the same about us if they knew we were paltors."

"Don't be that way. It's Lykela, our country. Our families are there, our friends, the Academy."

"My only friends are on this island. My birth family was killed by Lykelans. I have nothing to go back to." As soon as I said it, I knew it wasn't quite true. The Balugers had raised me as their own daughter my entire life, even knowing what I was, and I'd missed them from the moment I set foot on the Academy island. As for friends in Lykela, Sarafin and Liz were still there.

Behind Clarisa, a figure grew from the shadows, distracting me from my thoughts.

I took a step back and pointed. "Look."

She spun around and drew her wand. The figure turned into Bylanna. She must've been eavesdropping as some kind of small animal. Why had she revealed herself now, where the two of us could stop her from telling Farot what she'd heard?

Bylanna raised her hands in surrender. "Even if what you said about having no family or friends in Lykela were true, Ella—and I highly doubt that it is—you have a responsibility to protect the dragons from losing their minds to the Ferentisians. You have to destroy the portal."

Clarisa looked like she was about to drop her wand out of surprise. "You agree with me?"

"I am loyal dragons and katalnis, not to any one country. And while I don't owe my allegiance to Ferentis or Lykela, at least in Lykela, the dragons are treated with some respect. They are allowed to keep their thoughts and choose who they bond to. Some even find riders who allow them greater degrees of autonomy. It shows that Lykelan dragon policy could change, but Ferentisian policy most likely never will."

My head was still spinning from the idea that one of Farot's riders could actually be on our side, but it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. After all, we'd joined his expedition with plans to betray him. She could've done the same.

"Why should I listen to you?" I asked.

"If a mage as old and wise as Tyor was chose not to open the portal, you shouldn't either."

"What you know about him?" I tried to sound nonchalant. There was no telling whether she knew I was Tyor's daughter or not, and I didn't want to give away more information than I had to when I wasn't entirely sure if I trusted her.

"After the Lykelan Council took control of every katalni they could and won the war, they tried to purge the country of the remaining katalnis and mages. For the most part, they succeeded, but Tyor's parents and a few other mages escaped. They managed to disguise themselves as true bipeds and live among them until well after they had Tyor. He grew up to marry a talme woman and die because of it." Her brows narrowed. "And yes, I know you are their child. I'd recognize those scales anywhere."

"Wait a second." I shook my head. "You knew Tyor personally? And his parents, they couldn't have lived through the war. That was like three hundred years ago." Did she really think I was that dumb?