Page 67 of Dragon Valley
“How are you feeling?” Nadi’s small hand ran across my abdomen.
“Good as new,” I beamed at her. “The Dragon God’s magic really does accelerate healing.” Then to Azel, “Do we know how far out the royal army is?”
“About three hours out from the mountain pass,” he answered. “The rebels will flank them in about four.”
“So the dragons have an hour window to terrorize the living fuck out of the royals.” I rubbed my jaw. “Gods, I just hope that’s enough time.”
Nadi stood from bed and planted a kiss on my lips, allowing me to drink in the firelight dancing on her bare curves before she started getting dressed.
“Adult dragons are fast,” she assured me. “And Dusa is getting faster as she grows up. We’ll make it easy for the rebels to clean them up.”
“Adults are faster distance flyers because they’re stronger, but juvenile dragons are more agile,” Azel explained. “It’s a good thing Dusa was the one who took out all the dragon ice. A bigger dragon wouldn’t have been able to dodge everything like she did.”
“Did you see the whole thing from her eyes?” Nadi asked him.
“I got really dizzy,” he laughed.
We had a quick breakfast of porridge with bacon and tea before heading off. Azel mounted a gigantic black dragon with scales like obsidian. That thing was easily three times Dusa’s size and made of pure nightmares. A smaller, green dragon followed as they took off.
“That’s his father’s dragon,” Nadi said softly as we watched them. “Some of the most powerful chiefs had multiple dragons under their command. It only makes sense that a Dragon Seer chief would too.”
She sounded sad. I remembered that her mother’s dragon died soon after her mother did, and squeezed her shoulder in sympathy. A bond to that dragon could have been a connection to the mother she never knew.
“Hey Dusa,” I greeted when we approached her and got a big scaly forehead to my chest in reply. “Hey girl, drop me off with the rebel army when they get close, okay?”
She huffed a reply and a wave of understanding touched my mind. I stumbled on my feet when it hit me, still not used this bond with her. It was beyond surreal to know what a dragon was thinking. Her mind almost felt human, but like one that spoke a different language.
Nadiyah’s stare bore through me as I climbed up behind her.
“Why do you want to be dropped off with the army?”
“Because my place in battle is fighting alongside Captain Aron and our men,” I told her. “I need to watch their backs.”
“And who’s going to watch yours?”
“The Gods. Including the Dragon God, I hope.”
She turned in her seat to look at me. “If I feel anything that resembles you getting hurt or dying, we’ll burn a path straight toward you and I won’t care who’s in our way.”
“Fair enough,” I patted her hip. “Let’s fly.”
Dusa took us airborne and within an hour, we coasted over snow-capped mountains. Dragon’s peak, black and ominous, passed under us like a sleeping dragon itself. The ride would have been peaceful and scenic if not for the heavy sense of finality weighing on us.
I couldn’t allow the people of Tannia to slide backwards into a pit of greed and corruption. If I died today, it had to make a difference. It had to set the future in the right direction. It had to be worth every ounce of pain and suffering my men and I went through over the past three years. It had to be worth even breaking Nadiyah’s heart.
Dusa sailed around a mountainside, giving way to a spectacular view I never thought I’d see in my life.
Just ahead stood a massive, flat-topped cliff with tons of crevices, shelves, and jagged formations in the cliff face. All big enough to hold the fifty or so dragons either clinging to the rock wall like bats, or simply resting in one of the carved out shelves, waiting to take flight.
Incredibly diverse in size, shape and color, the moment one made my jaw drop, another one just as unique caught my eye.
“Stop staring. You’re making Dusa jealous,” Nadiyah chuckled.
The golden dragon snorted, her annoyance at me palpable. She grabbed two rocky outcroppings with her claws to make an abrupt stop, the momentum nearly sending me tumbling forward.
“I’m sorry, Dus. I deserved that.” I scratched her shoulder near my leg. “You’re the only dragon for me, beautiful.”
She growled and sent me a strong feeling of,I damn well better be!
