Page 21 of Lightningborn

Storm cracked open an eye, peering up at him, then closed it once more with a sniff. Shaking his head, Remy sat down, gathered the dragon, blanket and all, into his lap, and leaned back against the wall.

He wouldn’t be able to ride Storm for three years. Pirates were out looking for him. Storm had to eat every day. Remy didn’t really know if he could trust Bart. Problems with no solutions swirled through his head, frustrating and exhausting. But a baby dragon, his dragon, snoozed peacefully in his lap, and the blanket was warm across his legs. Eventually, he fell into a restless sleep.

CHAPTER

TEN

In a forbidden section of the Great Library, Gem closed a book that she was never supposed to see and leaned back in her chair. Her mind was spinning. Her fingers were shaking, and she felt dazed, not knowing what to think.

The Ancients…were dragons. True Dragons. The dragons that had existed before the Shattering of the World. The ones who were sentient and enormous and had taught magic to humans in ancient times. The Ancients were not mages or exiles or a sect of primordial wizards practicing forbidden magic. They were dragons. But that wasn’t the most amazing part.

According to all the history records, True Dragons were not extinct. No one knew where they had gone, or how they survived, but there were several instances throughout the kingdom’s history when someone had seen or even met a True Dragon. Some of these accounts were from pirates who had seen a huge creature out in the Maelstrom, or a dark, winged silhouette passing beneath their ship.

The most recent incident happened barely thirty years ago, to a sky knight called Sir Bartello Axtell when he was on a mission with his dragon.

FromThe Mystery of the Ancients,chapter thirteen, page 271: Encounters with the Ancient Ones

This is the account of Sir Bartello and his “encounter” with a True Dragon, known as an Ancient, on the southern border of the kingdom. Sir Bartello was escorting a merchant ship to the town of Pyre when they were set upon by sky pirates. Sir Bartello and his dragon, Blazetalon, fought the pirates bravely, but Blazetalon was struck by cannon fire and fatally wounded. Both dragon and rider fell into the Maelstrom and were presumed lost.

Nearly ten years later, a privateer vessel found Sir Bartello on a small, uninhabited land chunk many miles from the edge of the kingdom. The island in question was unnamed, and normally surrounded by fierce storms; the privateer vessel happened to be in the area at a time of calm and saw the distress smoke in time to rescue Sir Bartello. When asked how he survived, Sir Bartello claimed that he had been saved from the Maelstrom and put on the island by a dragon. Not his own dragon, but one who spoke to him, a True Dragon, before it vanished back into the storm.

Sir Bartello was returned to the castle, but his health, both physical and mental, had degraded too far to resume his duties as a sky knight. Those who remembered him well said he had changed, that he had grown paranoid and obsessive. He claimed that the island was a place where the True Dragons gathered, that he had seen numerous Ancients in his ten years of being stranded there. Physicians called upon to determine his mental health concluded that Sir Bartello had suffered greatly from stress, dehydration, and hallucinations while on the island, and that the loss of his own dragon, Blazetalon, caused him to produce the illusions he thought were True Dragons. He was given permanent leave from the sky knights and told to begin a normal life.

Three months after he was rescued, Sir Bartello left the capital without warning. His last known location was aboard a merchant ship called the Flying Hart that was heading toward the eastern islands. It has been recorded that the Flying Hart docked at the port of Rim, and that Bartello left the ship and entered the city. Beyond that, all traces of the sky knight known as Sir Bartello Axtell vanished, and the ex-knight’s location is currently unknown.

Sir Bartello.Gem drummed her fingers against the page in thought.It’s only been thirty years since he was stranded on that island. That means there are probably some people at the castle who knew him. And if he knows anything about the Ancients or where to find them…

Her heart pounded, and she breathed deeply to calm it down. She was getting ahead of herself. First, she had to return to the castle to see if anyone there remembered Sir Bartello Axtell. And if they did, maybe they knew where he had gone. The sky knight had met an Ancient; he had been to an island where the Ancients gathered. If anyone could save the kingdom’s storm crystals, it would be the True Dragons. At the very least, they would know what to do to help.

She had to find the True Dragons. And for that, she had to find Sir Bartello.

The sky had lightened to navy blue by the time Gem snuck her way out of the library and across the college grounds again. A faint pink glow hovered on the horizon, and several of the lights in the dorm windows had come on. It was nearly dawn. She had spent all night in the library, but she had the knowledge she needed now. Find Sir Bartello and ask him where to find the Ancients. The True Dragons.

Her stomach gave a weird little twist. The True Dragons were real. Everyone thought they were extinct, but they still existed, somewhere, out in the Maelstrom. Dragons who could not only understand you, but could speak to you as well. Who were immortal and, according to every story, had taught humans the ways of magic in the time before the Shattering.

But if the True Dragons still existed, why hadn’t they made themselves known? Why had they chosen to remain hidden and isolated in the Maelstrom? Were they deliberately keeping themselves away from humankind? Why? She would have to ask that question when she found them.

Cloud was waiting in the shed where she had left him, and she wasted no time flying back to the castle. The sun was just breaking over the horizon when she and Cloud swooped over the walls and landed in front of the dragon stables.

Empty. So far, so good—

“Your Highness!”

Gem jumped, nearly falling off Cloud as the voice boomed out behind her. She glanced back to see the tall form of Sir Cassandra, the captain of the sky knights, stride across the yard toward her. The woman’s dark hair was cropped short, and she wore a sword at her hip, always ready for action. She led Tempest, her silver-gray battle dragon, on a chain lead, and the dragon’s darksteel armor glinted in the predawn light.

“What do you think you are doing, Princess?” Sir Cassandra demanded, stopping Tempest a few paces from Gem and Cloud. Tempest was a heavily spiked, muscled brute of a battle dragon and could sometimes be a bully to the dragons smaller than himself. Which was nearly all of them.

Gem stifled a wince. “Just taking Cloud out for a morning flight,” she said, waving a hand at the lightening sky. Hoping the sky knight captain didn’t know her well enough to realize she almost never got out of bed before the sun came up.

“Out for a ride.” Sir Cassandra raised a thin, skeptical eyebrow as she glanced at Cloud. “With no escorts? Dressed in a very suspicious cloak and hood?”

Gem’s stomach twisted, but she forced herself not to panic. “Oh, well, I…” she began, then sighed heavily. “I was flying without a saddle,” she confessed. “And I didn’t want anyone to see me.”

“Princess.” Sir Cassandra’s voice was disapproving, and one gauntleted hand went to her hip. “You know that is against the rules. You know how dangerous that can be, even with a mild-tempered dragon like Cloud.” At her side, Tempest gave a rumble, eyeing the smaller dragon evilly, and tried stepping forward. Sir Cassandra snapped his lead in warning.

“I know,” Gem said, looking at the ground. “But it was such a nice morning, and putting on the saddle takes so long.” She shuffled her feet, then gave the captain a pleading look. “Don’t tell Martin,” she begged. “He’ll lecture me about being a bad dragon owner, and then he’ll tell my father, who will forbid me from riding Cloud again until I’ve ‘shown more responsibility.’”

The knight captain sighed. “I won’t tell your father, or the stable master. This time.” She raised an armored finger. “Ifyou promise you will not attempt such foolishness again. We cannot have the princess of Gallecia falling off her dragon because it was too inconvenient to put on a saddle. Understand?”

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