Page 91 of A Kingdom Restored

“Greetings, Heath, Merletta,” the dragon said. He glanced behind them, his eyes landing first on Sage, then the Record Master. “Friend of Merletta, Deceiver,” he continued the greetings.

“Reka, what do you mean the dragons know?” Heath pressed, clearly impatient of the formalities. “Has word reached them about the incident at Loch Arine?”

“So my sire has just informed me,” Rekavidur confirmed. “They are aware that merfolk walk among you and have now been exposed to your king.”

“Does that mean they’re going to seek retribution against Valoria?” Heath asked, anxiety clear in his voice.

“I believe the more immediate effect is to reinforce the urgency of their original mission,” Rekavidur said. “I am told they had already sent out the first scouts, but others are joining them even as we speak. I have no doubt they will find the underwater stronghold before the day is out.”

Merletta turned to Heath, feeling the color drain from her face. “We’re out of time,” she whispered, reeling from the truth of it. Neither her method of taking the Record Master back to Vazula nor her plans for how to expose his crimes were viable anymore. They had to change direction, and they had to do it fast. The first hints of dawn were lightening the air—it was unendurable to think that the sun might be rising on the triple kingdoms’ final day.

“There’s certainly no time for the journey you described,” Heath agreed grimly. “It doesn’t seem like there’s anything to lose from Rekavidur carrying you back there. Not if they’re going to find it within the day either way.” He turned to the dragon. “Are you willing, Reka?”

He nodded his vast head gravely. “I am willing. But I can carry only two.”

“Sage, maybe you can stay here,” Merletta suggested desperately. “No one actually saw you transform. If you keep a low profile, you might slip through the notice of…” She trailed off at the look on Sage’s face, raising her hands in surrender. “All right, all right. I know.”

“There’s also no way in the world I’m staying behind,” Heath said flatly. “Not a chance.”

“But Heath!” Merletta turned to him, aghast. “You coming was never part of the plan.”

“That was before we knew the reckoning was today,” Heath told her simply. “I’m not staying here while you go flying toward likely death.”

“But what’s the point in you dying as well?” Merletta cried, reaching out and grabbing his arm. Her eyes pleaded with him to see reason. “Please, Heath. Don’t come just so you can die with us. It’s not as though you can do anything to help once we’re underwater.”

“I wasn’t suggesting I go underwater,” said Heath. “But ever since we found out about the dragons’ threat, I’ve been itching to get back to Vazula, to properly hunt for answers about the inhabitants, like I intended to do when I first went there. I never tried very hard before, because the island quickly became about you, not about the power-wielders who may or may not have lived there once.”

“This is madness,” cut in the Record Master, his voice harsh. “My predecessors have combed that island, and removed anything of significant value. There is nothing there which will convince the dragons not to attack. Surely you cannot seriously be intending for us all to return to the triple kingdoms if the dragons are truly on their way.”

“If you think you’re staying here, safely far away from the carnage, you can think again,” Merletta told him viciously. “If we get there too late to let everyone out, then you’ll suffer for your lies along with the rest of your victims. Perhaps you’ll have the chance to explain to them just why you assured everyone the barrier would keep dragons out.” She bit her lip. “Although they know that’s a lie already, since Elddreki came through. Maybe that’s been enough to spur everyone to flee.”

“Elddreki!” Heath cried. He looked hopefully at Rekavidur. “Do you think he’d be willing to help us again? If he can take two as well, that’s all of us.”

“I will ask him,” said Rekavidur. He lifted his head to the sky, and although he uttered no sound and made no movement, when he lowered his face again, he gave Heath a nod. “He is coming.”

“So it’s decided, then,” said Heath firmly. “I’ll go to the island while Merletta and the others go to warn the triple kingdoms. We should get moving now, though, put some distance between us and the castle while we wait for Elddreki.”

He turned his face purposefully toward the coast, but Merletta wasn’t ready to give in. She still gripped his arm, and she let her fingers slide down until she clasped his hand, pulling him back to face her.

“Heath, please. I want you far away from this. I know you want to help, but August and the others have been searching the island for weeks. Last I heard, they’d found nothing.”

“But Heath can see things others can’t see,” Rekavidur said simply.

Merletta blinked up at him. The dragon spoke calmly, with no trace of emotion, as was his usual way. The comment was so matter-of-fact it seemed out of place in this highly charged debate over life and death, but at the same time it was irrefutable. What if Heath really could find something no one had yet found?

“It shouldn’t be necessary for you to put your life at risk,” Merletta said, a snap in her voice as she turned back to the Record Master. “If your predecessors stripped the island of any relevant records, surely you have them still, or copies of them. Don’t you have any accounts that would convince the dragons?”

“I do not, but feel free to spend the few remaining hours left to your life searching through every record in the Center,” the Record Master said, anger burning in his eyes as his options for escaping the coming massacre receded rapidly.

Merletta looked at Heath. “Is he lying?”

Heath shrugged helplessly. “I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. There are so many layers to him, it’s hard to even know what I’m seeing let alone be sure I haven’t missed something. If my father was here, he could tell us with certainty, but…”

Merletta nodded as he trailed off. If the Record Master wasn’t going to direct them, it hardly even mattered if there were relevant records. There was no time to trawl through everything.

With Reka carrying the Record Master, the other three were able to move much more quickly as they headed southeast, toward the distant coast. By the time the dragon Elddreki reached them, the sun had come up over the eastern farmland, Merletta’s anxiety rising with it.

The larger dragon wasted no time in seizing Sage in one taloned front foot and the still-chained Record Master in the other. Rekavidur copied his father, grasping Heath and Merletta in one fluid motion as he took to the sky.

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