Page 59 of The Flame King's Queen

I’m pleased to see that Sundra, riding Merrex, has come in third. She’s beaming and hugging her dragon, and all the soldiers of the City Guard are whooping and stomping their feet.

Not far away, Stesha is on his knees in a river of blood, packing dried marseng leaves into Nilak’s bitten tail and wrapping wet ones from a bucket around the wound. The leaves will dry quickly, staunching the blood and acting like a second skin until Nilak heals. The crystalline white dragon is standing patiently for her rider, but trembling in fury and pain.

Finally, Stesha gets to his feet and takes a long, slow look around the dragongrounds. His white riding leathers are spattered red, and both his white gloves are soaked with so much blood that they’re nearly black. He spies Robein and Corin skulking at the edge of the grounds by their dragons and stalks over to them. I can well imagine how he’s feeling. I was feverish with fear and anger when Scourge was injured by a poisoned arrow. Our dragons are our lives.

When he reaches Robein, he pulls back his fist and punches him in the face, leaving a red smear across his mouth. Robein crumples to the ground. Corin backs away, but he’s too late to avoid Stesha’s fury and gets a punch of his own. Stesha stands over both their prone bodies with his fists clenched. A cheer goes up from the crowd.

Auriana and Aurissa don’t seem to notice that their riders have been attacked. The two Alpha females are hunched together and are gazing with mistrustful eyes at the rest of the flare. They don’t seem to be enjoying the company of hostile dragons and are probably confused by the concepts ofgamesandraces. Despite the reprehensible behavior of their riders, the sight of unhappy dragons hurts my heart, and I feel sorry for them.

But I don’t feel sorry for Robein and Corin. After Stesha stalks away, Corin helps his dazed brother to his feet while blood streams from his nose.

The dragonmaster hasn’t finished dispensing his wrath, but as he approaches Kane, Auryn lowers his head and growls at the white-haired Alpha.

“Auryn, Nilak, and Scourge would all have placed if you and the numbskulls you brought with you hadn’t decided to cheat,” Stesha accuses the former witchfinder.

Kane shrugs. “Better that we all lose than you win anything.”

“That isn’t what the Dragon Games are about.”

“It is to me,” Kane replies with a smirk.

Stesha points to the unhappy Auriana and Aurissa, who are hunching even lower at the sight of the fighting Alphas. “Do you see how miserable your dragons are? I would be ashamed to call myself their dragonmaster.”

The Temple Crone has crossed the bridge onto the dragongrounds and has approached the center. Her normally watery old eyes are flinty with anger. Several dragonriders and a few soldiers shove Kane, Robein, and Corin forward to stand before her, and she surveys them coldly.

“Explain yourselves.”

Onlookers are hurrying across the bridge to the dragongrounds. A crowd is forming at our backs to hear the Temple Crone’s judgment.

Kane stands lazily before her with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “What’s there to explain? Our dragons were caught up in the excitement of the event. They didn’t understand what they were doing was wrong.”

The Temple Crone narrows her eyes. “You are lying, Dragonrider Kane. The Temple Mothers who witnessed the event told me how Auriana and Aurissa repeatedly attacked Nilak, and you deliberately collided with Scourge to unseat his rider. We are well within the rules of the Dragon Games to disqualify you all based on such reprehensible behavior.”

Stesha pushes through to the front. “Don’t disqualify them. I want to see them humiliate themselves in front of all of Maledin until they’re laughed at everywhere they go, and then I will beat them to a pulp in the final event.”

The Temple Crone glances at me. It was Stesha’s dragon who was injured, so he has more reason than me to want them gone. I approach him and say in a low voice, “Are you sure about this?”

“In just about every event going forward, they will be competing alone,” Stesha says. “They won’t have the chance to cheat, and they will reveal just how inept and undisciplined they are. Meanwhile you and I will easily regain the points we lost.”

“All right. If you’re sure.”

“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t sure,” he says, clenching his blood-red fists.

The Temple Crone has been following our conversation. “If the riders of the wild dragons willfully cause injury to another dragon, they will be disqualified from the games.”

“And their rider will be imprisoned in the dungeons for at least five years,” I add. “Ten if I’m feeling particularly pissed off, and I warn you that little makes me as angry as bleeding dragons.”

“As you wish,Ma’len,” the Temple Crone says with a nod. “Then all that remains is to present the winners of the first event with their ribbons. Pavel and Lethis, you flew beautifully. An exemplary dragon and rider pair.”

A Temple Mother affixes a gold winner’s ribbon to Pavel’s riding leathers while he turns a vivid shade of crimson and ducks his head, a pleased smile on his lips.

“Rhan and Ragdyn.” The Temple Crone purses her lips, and adds, “You don’t seem to have indulged in any of the poor behavior shown by the other riders in your flare. May you continue in the same way and be an example to your friends.”

A Temple Mother gives him a severe look and ties a red ribbon to his riding clothes.

“And finally, Sundra and Merrex.” The Temple Crone beams at Sundra as the Alpha woman steps forward. There are ear-splitting whistles and cheers from the City Guard. “Your soldiers are proud of their captain, as well they should be.”

Sundra receives her white ribbon, and the brief ceremony is over. Stesha turns and heads straight back to Nilak, and the crowd breaks up and starts to drift away. After patting Scourge’s flank and telling him I’m proud of him, I seek Pavel out, who is showing his ribbon to Lethis. The majestic Alpha male dragon is snuffling at his chest in delight. I’ve always wondered how it feels when a rider is matched with a dragon of another designation. Perhaps Pavel prefers a strong-willed partner.

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