Page 73 of Lady Dragon
Samansa had frozen, even her expression unchanged, her eyes still wide.
And then the amber turned to gold.
Kirek found herself once more lying face down, but at least this time she hadn’t fallen far. Because she’d already lowered herself. The red dragon towered above her, just as Kirek had begged her to.
Kirek drew herself tiredly onto her hands and knees, sitting back on her haunches. “Let’s end this, my princess—my queen—one way or another.”
It’s close now, the red dragon said.And because you have proved your devotion, I will take you.
19
THE RED DRAGON
The red dragon knew unerringly where to go. The cave mouth felt to her like a keyhole, and she was the key. She was coming home. She just needed to get inside, and everything would click—she would remember. Though, as a dragon, she didn’t understand why she was even thinking of such human things as keyholes. Perhaps it was because of whom she was carrying. Her passenger was somehow part of this, even though the red dragon would rather the girl not have been here—and tocertainlynot be riding on her back.
The cave opened into the mountainside after only a short flight. In the night, it should have been hidden amid rock and smoke, but darkness actually revealed it. From inside its relatively narrow mouth came a glow as if from a dragon’s throat and a tongue of lava that might otherwise have blended in with the other orange-black flows veining the mountainside. She let the entrance swallow them, flying carefully over the molten channel on the ground.
The cave was less smoky and ashy than outside, though no less hot. The channel served as an overflow from the well within, though a cavern yawned out around and above it, allowing for a wide crescent of higher ground around the edges before sinkinginto a lava pool that was about the size of the oasis spring—but when had she seenthat? The shape ofthiswellspring made the cave floor actually resemble a keyhole, with the glowing channel exiting the bottom. At the top of the pool, farthest from the outlet at the cave mouth, sinister orange light outlined the ridges and hollows of a hulking, shadowy shape perched in the center of the crescent rim—a skull.
A dragon’s skull, like those they’d seen outside in the graveyard. It was as if the creature had crawled straight in, lain down in the molten pool, and left its chin to rest on the stone lip while it burned. The rest of its body had long since melted away.
The skull glowed on its own, somehow. In the empty eye sockets, a red flame flared as soon as the red dragon touched down in front of it, at the back of the cave. She stared into its eyes as the flames grew brighter and brighter—and then the red dragon herself could see.
This was Raka.She, the red dragon, was Raka, finally reunited with herself. She’d only needed to come here to understand. And yet, she still didn’t remember everything.
“You realize this could be a centipede den,” the girl said warily. She’d slid from Raka’s back as silently as a shadow, and stood well away, out of claws’ reach, her back to the cave wall, facing the far exit, though she still had more room to retreat, if she wanted. The cave wasn’t as big as the seat at High Nest—oh, how Raka missed High Nest—but there was still ample enough space for dragons to move, which was more than enough for this girl to run.
Raka didn’t want her to run. But she wasn’t quite sure why.
No, I’ve had faithful servants keep it secure, over the long years, Raka said slowly, trying to recall.
“You’ve always been here,” the girl said, staring at the skull as if she’d come to a disturbing realization, where Raka only felt calm certainty starting to seep into her bones. “This has been Raka’s den in death, not just her grave. The Heartstone is merely a doorway to her.”
More of a keystone, Raka said, looking around in curious wonder, despite herself.
There were other things in the cave, old stone molds that were mostly shattered, pieces of metal that were twisted and rusted, as frail as twigs. Most noticeable was a dark stain that spread out from the skull’s toothy jaws. Char. There was a slightly fainter spot in the middle of it, as if something had sat there while dragon fire streamed around it.
That’s where I left the Heartstone, Raka said, nodding at the spot.I’m remembering.
“Remembering what?” the girl asked.
When I took my Heartstone and burned it—melted part of my life force into it.
“YourHeartstone?” the girl asked carefully.
Nakor had the other. Nakortookhers, Raka hissed,and never returned to me.
“But she died fighting King Wyleth.” It wasn’t quite a question from the girl, but almost.
She didn’t die, Raka spat.That was her greatest shame… and mine, which is why I told no one what truly happened. But you are her weak echo. You’re as pitiful as Nakor, so the shame falls from my shoulders to yours, in finally unburdening it.
Somehow, Raka knew things about this girl even if she didn’t quite understand why. Her knowledge was shadowed and indistinct in the cave of her mind. The memories she was trying todraw from were resistant, shrinking. Not her own memories, then, of which she found she had plenty.
Her memories burned through her like dragon fire, unleashed. She had to let them out, to light and clear the way. To seeherselfmore clearly, if not what was around her.
The girl looked guarded, on her toes, though she didn’t move. “What happened to her?”
What happened tous,you mean?Raka asked, cocking her head at her.The War of Fire was raging, never-ending, sometimes hibernating underground until it flared to life once more. Even dragons grew weary of the flame. The humans were wily, and they reproduced so quickly. Always more of them. More of their weapons. Dragonsbane was the worst.
