Page 19 of The Dragonrider and the Void
INTO THE STORM
Lark met her dragon’s eyes after asking him about the blood trailing down his shoulder.
White Eye looked down at his wounded shoulder. His memories passed into Lark’s consciousness. Lark saw that he was in the aerie in Skol. Barrik and Killaborden were forcing him to remain, to submit to warging, while the others searched for Lark. While trapped there, White Eye managed to catch glimpses of Lark through their bond whenever she tapped into their shared magic. Then, there was the Magus and a dragon’s claw piercing the place in his shoulder were the brismil arrowhead was lodged.
Lark cocked her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as she examined the blood weeping between his scales. The irradiance shimmering in the crimson droplets was a natural indicator of both his draconic magic and that of the gods flowing through his veins.
His blood shouldn’t have that streak of purple, she thought.
“Is this from today?” she asked him.
White Eye stamped his front paw, shaking his head back and forth. A clear, no.
She was still reeling from the discovery that the Entity had stolen a Realmstone. But this, this was wrong. Before today, she’d only seen purple light when two forms of magic combined. Like when Joc had tapped into the Hyalite and used the brismil to bind it within him back in the fortress in Red Lodge. The fusion had allowed the power-hungry mage to hold an otherwise deadly amount of magic within one soul.
Since Joc is dead, the presence of this purple means this has been bothering you for some time,she projected to White Eye.
Another of her dragon’s memories came down the bond. Lark saw Barrik holding a brismil arrowhead. He wiped it clear of dragon blood to disclose a distinct rune carved into it.
Now Lark understood. After Barrik’s attack on her and Tel Roan, Lark and White Eye had been disconnected and weakened. Barrik had used the situation to warg into Lark’s dragon, forcing him back to Skol while she struggled with amnesia on the ground in Lamar.
“This is going to hurt,” she said.
White Eye braced himself firmly on all fours.
The large, black dragon flexed as Lark pulled apart the slit between scales. Underneath, in his flesh, she found a broken wooden shaft. His pain flooded their bond, making her woozy too, but Lark focused. She grabbed hold of the shaft and used all of her strength to pull out the broken brismil arrow.
Instantly, they both felt relief. Lark straightened, inspecting the brismil arrowhead. Just like in the images White Eye had shared with her, this blood-covered brismil arrowhead was carved with two runes.
“That ashing slug,” Lark cursed. “Barrik must’ve had Joc cast a tracking spell into one rune and a numbing spell into the other. That’s why you didn’t feel it. Barrik had control over you until we were reunited. You were a prisoner in your own home, with an imbedded backup tracker if you escaped.”
Lark’s exhaustion evaporated beneath the surge of cold rage. Her feelings were further fueled by White Eye’s anger. They’d been marked ever since Red Lodge. Barrik would be following their trail. Only their constant movement and occasional storms had kept him from catching up with them.
“How long have we been here?” she asked, realizing they’d been on the ground for quite a while and conditions were good for flying.
A distant ward chimed; the sound carried across the sanctuary grounds. Lark stiffened. Someone or something was moving near the outer boundary of the town.
“We need to move,” Lark whispered. “Now!”
They hurried to the edge of the vault, passing quickly through the archives and out into the ruins. The Entity that had created the rimeshade was no longer present, its icy frost had evaporated. But something else was nearby.
Lark scanned the horizon and saw him there. Barrik, on Killaborden’s back, circled high over the mountains. Lark could make out his copper cloak, the brismil spear secured to his saddle. Her heart jumped as they ducked into a nearby alcove. She tried to stay out of sight, but she knew what his presence meant.
“Barrik. He knows we’re here,” Lark said. As she watched him, though, Barrik didn’t dive toward them as Lark expected. He kept his distance, apparently continuing his search.
Does he not see us?she wondered.
White Eye reminded her of seeing the shimmering wards part for them upon their approach to reveal this ancient sanctuary.
“You’re right,” she said to her dragon. “If the wards shielding this place from outsiders weren’t touched by the Entity, they should still be active. Barrik doesn’t know there’s a sanctuary here. He can’t see us, but he knows we are somewhere belowhim. Possibly hiding in the mountains. He must think we’re resting.”
“Can you end the tracking spell?” Nix asked, appearing in the air between Lark and White Eye.
“Yes,” Lark said.
Her hand hovered over the blood as she prepared the wording of the spell she’d need to use. Then she hesitated.
“Breaking a tracking charm means unraveling the magic placed in these runes. I’m a little rusty with this kind of thing,” she admitted.
