Page 13 of Lightningborn

The baby dragon in Remy’s shack.

I have to hide Storm!

Ducking pirates, Remy hurried across the room. Something jostled him as he passed a table, a bony elbow slamming into his chest, knocking him off his feet. He fell on his backside with a grunt, and a lanky pirate with a skull tattoo on his neck glared down at him.

“Stay out of this, rat,” the pirate said, pointing a thin dagger in Remy’s face. “This has nothing to do with you, so you just keep out of our way, got it? I catch you snooping around after a dragon, I’ll throw your pathetic carcass into the Maelstrom.”

Remy skittered backward, and the pirate immediately lost interest, preoccupied with starting the search. The tavern was already nearly empty, with pirates scrambling over each other to get to the door, jostling and shoving each other out of the way. Only Bart sat at his table, hands folded beneath his chin, watching the chaos unfold around him. His normally rheumy, cloudy gaze suddenly fixed on Remy and his eyes narrowed to dark slits. But Remy couldn’t think about Crusty Bart right now; he had to get to Storm before the pirates found him.

Leaping to his feet, he dodged two more pirates, slipped out the door, and ran for home.

It took him longer than normal to get back to his hut. Word spread like wildfire through Cutthroat Wedge, and soon the streets were full of people searching for the dragon. Thankfully, Cutthroat Wedge was such a tangle of winding streets, structures piled on top of each other, and jumbled, mazelike neighborhoods, a baby dragon could be hiding anywhere within the nooks and crannies. Remy just hoped they hadn’t yet searched a tiny, rickety shack above a stagnant pond.

The hut was quiet when Remy got there, no pirates or fellow thieves snooping around. “Storm,” he whispered as he pushed back the cloth and slipped into the room. Brutus poked his head out of his hole, twitching his whiskers hopefully as Remy crossed the squeaky planks, but Remy ignored him. His only focus was the hammock where he had left the baby dragon sleeping soundly. “Storm,” he whispered again, pulling one side of the hammock down and peering inside, “are you still there?”

There was a sleepy growl, and then bright purple eyes cracked open, peeking up at him in a grumpy manner. Remy let out a breath of relief as the baby dragon yawned, showing a flash of teeth, and then turned to gaze up at him. He gave a chirp that sounded like a question, and Remy shook his head.

“Sorry, little guy, but we have to move.” He reached into the hammock and carefully lifted Storm out. The dragon didn’t squirm or try to bite him, and Remy cradled him to his chest. “It’s not safe here anymore; there are people looking for you right now. We have to get out of here, find a safe place for you to hide.”

“I’m afraid there’s not many of those around,” said a voice behind him.

Remy jumped, and Storm gave a startled squeak. Whirling around, Remy saw a figure standing in the doorway of his hut, staring wide-eyed at the dragon in his arms.

“Oh, lad,” Crusty Bart whispered, shaking his head. “What have you done?”

CHAPTER

SIX

Your father is going to kill you if he finds out about this.

Standing in front of the mirror in her bedroom, Gem observed the reflection of a girl dressed in black, a dark cloak draped over her shoulders, and shoved that thought aside. It was past midnight in the castle. Most of the servants and staff had gone to bed, and the guards were all at their various stations or patrolling the grounds. She knew where they would be, and she knew the paths to avoid them. Still, this wasn’t going to be easy. And if she was caught…

Gem sighed, reached back, and drew up the hood of her cloak, hiding her face.Stop thinking about it, Gem. Just go.

She walked to her window and brushed aside the lacy curtains, gazing out at the garden below. Overhead, the moon shone like a staring silver eye, making her wince. So bright. She would’ve preferred a cloudy night or even a storm, but she couldn’t do anything about the weather. Or at least, she couldn’t do anything about ityet.Experienced mages were known to part clouds, calm winds, or even summon storms themselves, but she was a long way away from being able to call down lighting.

Someday, she told herself. It was definitely on the list of things to learn.

Tonight, though, she had other things to discover. Like who were the Ancients, and why did no one want to talk about them? Especially if they could help save the kingdom? What would happen to the people if the islands fell? They would all die. People like Lighthouse, Headmistress Idella, and all the students at the college. It made her stomach turn just thinking about it. If her father, the council, and the archmage wouldn’t give her the answers she needed, she would just have to find them herself.

Which meant going back to the library before the school was shut down and sneaking into the restricted wing without being caught. Gem didn’t have a sky ship or a private carriage that would take her across town to the college, but she did have something that was just as good. If she could get to it.

She pushed open her window, slipped over the sill, and dropped noiselessly onto the grass. The castle gardens were silent in the moonlight, and the single guard patrol wouldn’t pass by for another two minutes.

Darting across the lawn, Gem slipped into the shadows like a wraith and headed for another part of the castle.

The stables were luxurious, as befit the king’s horses, with roomy stalls and a couple dozen stable hands to take care of their every need. Gem’s own pony, a golden mare with a white mane and tail, was treated like royalty here, but Gem herself rarely went to the stables.

At least, not those stables.

There were two stables located within the castle walls. One for horses and one for dragons. On the other side of the courtyard, built into the side of the granite cliff that rose into the air, were the stables of the sky knights. They were located on opposite ends of the courtyard because even after decades of domestication, dragons were still elite predators and made horses very nervous if they were housed too close. More than two dozen caves had been drilled into the side of the mountain, and raised platforms soaring high above the ground allowed for easy take off and landing. Over thirty dragons—from even-tempered riding dragons to sleek, fast-as-the-wind racers to the fierce but hard-to-handle battle dragons—were housed within these caves. Gem knew all their names, all their quirks and temperaments, and loved every one of them. Even the “difficult” ones, like Rockhead, a battle dragon whose stubbornness was legendary. Or Breeze, a mischievous blue dragon who could somehow get out of every stall, cage, and pen you put her in. Gem herself had been called on once or twice to catch Breeze when she escaped from the stables. But since she knew the dragon couldn’t resist her favorite snack of raw herring, Gem never had any trouble getting Breeze back where she belonged. Gem knew them all so well.

The dragons recognized her, too. Which was a good thing, as a few dozen dragons bellowing an alarm in the middle of the night would be a very bad thing for her plans.

Gem slipped through the gates into the stable yard, gazing warily around for movement. Most of the stable hands would be asleep at this hour, though there would be one or two roaming around, checking on the dragons all night.

She could hear dragons snoring and snuffling in their caves as she crept down the wooden walkways until she reached the stall she was looking for. The iron gate across the cave entrance was locked, but she had the spare key in her pocket. The gate swung open without a creak, and she stepped inside.

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