Page 438 of Kingdoms of Night

“Tanis!” He called out her name again, although this time he wasn’t expecting her to answer.

Rowan staggered through the crystals, flinching away from any of the memories that were recent. Though there were flashes in his mind now that he’d opened himself to the magic.

Splatters of blood. Screams of dragons. The searing feeling of a curse that ripped through scales and sank deep into flesh.

Whoever attacked them knew magic like nothing he’d even seen before. And maybe it wasn’t just magic. The acidic sound made him wonder if someone out there had designed a weapon that killed dragons specifically. Perhaps a warlock, or a king, had found a substance that could burn through the tough dragon hide which no one had ever penetrated before.

Finally, he rounded a corner in the cave and found her. Tanis had curled up beside a monolith of crystals that grew out of the ground and reached up to the ceiling. Her head lay limp on the floor, her great sides heaved with exertion.

She’d been within the memories of the crystals for too long. Tanis had warned him something like this could happen and that he would end up stuck inside the crystals for good.

He carefully made his way to her side, smoothing his palms along the ridges of her belly. “Tanis?” he asked. “Are you with me, or are you lost?”

She blinked one giant eye open, though it didn’t quite focus on him. “I am here, little elf.”

“What happened?”

He could already guess. The crystals were dimming before his eyes as though the person on the other end of the memory had left as well.

“I was listening,” Tanis whispered, her voice rough as though she had been crying. Or screaming. “The dragons are losing, Rowan. I do not believe we will see any of them again.”

“We cannot give up hope that easily.” Though, hearing her say that didn’t make him hold out any hope for those who had left. “A few of the dragon keepers said the forest dragons were leaving?”

“Of course,” Tanis replied, nodding her head on the ground. “As they should. They were not bred for war.”

What was she talking about now? War was not coming to the island! Dracomaquia was so far away, and if no one left to go to Umbra, surely those armies would stay where they were.

No one would attack the home of the dragons. Such a future was foolish to consider.

He rubbed his hand over her belly one last time. “How long has it been since you ate, Tanis?”

She didn’t reply.

“Or drank?”

Again, no response to his question, and he could only assume that meant she didn’t remember. Damned dragon. Always trying to save everyone else rather than herself. He’d been working with her for only a couple weeks, and had been here for just over a month, and he already knew that.

“Come on,” he said, patting her side for good measure. “Get up and we’ll go get something to eat.”

“What if they call for me again?” She finally opened both her eyes and lifted her head, although it wobbled as she tried to hold it straight. “I’m the only one who can listen to them.”

He knew how much she wanted to be there for her people, but she couldn’t do it forever without taking care of herself. “If you die of dehydration, then there will be no one to listen to them at all. You know I won’t do it.” He tried to joke, but it fell flat in the cave's silence. “Tanis, you know you can’t do this forever.”

“I know.” She forced herself upright, although he noticed she dragged her belly on the ground a little too hard for his liking. The crystals scratched against her scales as she moved, the sound like someone dragged their nails across stone.

He winced but followed close behind her, as if he could do anything if she fell.

Tanis made it to the front of the cave and then collapsed onto the ground. Her sides heaved with the effort it had taken to just get her here.

“Good enough,” he said, stepping over her tail so he could get to the food and water. “You stay there, and I’ll bring it to you.”

Rowan gathered up a bowl half his size and filled it with water. That was the most important. He listened to her labored breathing as he poured, whispering prayers to the old gods that she stayed awake enough to get some water into her.

His arms shook as he brought the giant bowl over to her head and then laid it before her. She wouldn’t need to move much to get it.

“There you are,” he said, pointing to it as though he had any authority in their relationship. “Now, drink.”

Watching her peel an eye open was like time had slowed. She lifted her head, though, and then drank half the bowl before her head thudded back onto the ground. “I need to sleep,” she murmured. “I need rest.”

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