Page 38 of The Dragonrider and the Void
Hardin staggered as the cave filled with a sound beyond hearing, a death cry from the fleeting darkness. The ice flaked off the walls in huge chunks, each leaving fissures in the walls. Hardin didn’t need Quinthara’s warning to tell him it was time to leave.
Hardin ran for the exit as the icy chamber began to cave in behind them, leaving the fallen Rodjex in his tomb.
Hardin took hold of Quinthara’s tail, letting her drag them out of the cave faster than they could’ve moved otherwise. They burst into daylight as the mouth of the cave filled with rubble. The townspeople stirred individually, the dark stains on their skin fading completely. Hardin saw his mother, Kaya, helping Marra to her feet, both of them clear-eyed and free of the curse’s influence.
As the dust, snow, and ice expelled from the collapsed cave settled, Hardin observed the thing that they’d retrieved from the cave. Quinthara opened her claw to expose the egg. Only, it wasn’t the same. The oversized egg had crumbled, revealing a small white and green animal the size of a full-grown hound. Its scales were dull, as if the color had been drained from it before hatching. Its two small wings unfurled as it opened its eyes. Hardin stared down at the infant dragon as it stared up at him and Quinthara with two cream white eyes rimmed in gold.
11
ECHOES OF POWER
The distant peaks of the Frost Fang Mountains loomed against the slate-grey sky as White Eye banked through the cloud cover. Lark sat forward in the saddle, rejuvenated from their prolonged stay in the cave. Behind her, Venrick held tight to her waist while Yarla huddled against his back, her silver-white hair whipping in the wind.
“We’re close,” Lark called over her shoulder. The wind tore at her words, but she knew Venrick heard when his grip tightened slightly.
Below them, the jagged terrain gave way to the familiar rolling foothills Lark had seen when White Eye first carried her here. Patches of green peeked through the snow where the sanctuary’s ancient wards maintained their eternal spring, invisible to all but those who knew where to look.
“You’re sure it’s down there, I don’t see anything,” Venrick said, his voice tinged with doubt.
Lark smiled despite herself. “Yes, I’m sure.”
White Eye descended in a gradual spiral, the thermals beneath his wings allowing him to glide with minimal effort. Lark could feel the tension in his body through the saddle. Hewas expecting trouble. Since their encounter with the Entity and the rimeshade in the sanctuary vault, White Eye had been on edge, constantly scanning their surroundings for threats. Though the tracking spell Barrik and Joc placed on the brismil arrowhead was gone, White Eye still hadn’t rested easy.
“There,” Lark said, pointing to what appeared to be a natural formation of boulders arranged in an arc. As they approached, she felt Yarla stir behind Venrick.
“There’s powerful magic here,” the elf said, her voice barely audible over the wind. These were the first words she’d spoken to Lark and Venrick since they’d left the caverns.
Lark nodded. “The wards are powered by magic from riders who were trained by the original twelve.”
White Eye crossed the invisible threshold, and the air shimmered around them like heat rising from summer stone. The illusion fell away, revealing the sanctuary in its weathered glory. Stone buildings emerged from nothingness, their once-proud facades now crumbling with neglect. Towers that had housed generations of dragons stood half-collapsed, their perches empty except for the occasional mountain lark. The central courtyard, where Lark and White Eye had landed before, stretched out below them.
“By the gods,” Venrick breathed, his voice filled with wonder. “How long has this been here?”
“No living riders knew about it, not even Barrik. White Eye’s knowledge of it came to him through a connection to his ancestors who’ve protected its existence for centuries,” Lark replied. “For all we know, this was one of the original dragonrider sanctuaries in Sataran.”
In the air next to them, sparks spiraled into existence and a moment later Nix appeared. Her long flaming hair and dress rippled in the wind behind her as the fiery woman flew in pace alongside them. “It was hidden from the world when thedragonriders feared extinction,” Nix said, chiming in on their conversation.
White Eye circled the courtyard once more, his white eyes scanning for any sign of danger. Lark felt this unease ripple through him.
Something’s changed since we were last here,she thought to him.
He gave a rumbling exhale in agreement that vibrated through the saddle.
They landed in the center of the courtyard. As White Eye’s claws scraped against the stone, Lark immediately noticed what had bothered her dragon. The rime frost that had spread across the courtyard during their previous visit was gone, but it had left its mark. Where once there had been ancient runes carved into the stone, now there were deep gouges, as if something had deliberately desecrated the protective symbols.
Venrick dismounted first, then turned to help Yarla. The elf’s strength had improved since they had fled Haven’s Edge, but she still moved with deliberate care and measured caution. As with the scars gouged into the stone, the dark corruption that was in her veins had receded to barely visible lines at her wrists and neck. Lark knew the damage, like that which had been done to this sanctuary, was deeper than physical appearance.
“Can you feel it?” Yarla asked, her green eyes scanning the ruined buildings surrounding them. “The power here... it’s wounded.”
Lark noticed the tension in Venrick’s shoulders as he examined the abandoned buildings surrounding the square, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
Lark slid from the saddle, running her hand briefly along White Eye’s obsidian scales in a gesture of reassurance. “The Entity came from a chamber in the fissure and went right for thearchives,” Lark said, pointing out the partially destroyed roofline of one of the only buildings that had been whole.
“And it took the Realmstone,” Yarla said, furrowing her brow. “While I’ve been resting, I’ve been trying to place how I know that term. I know I’ve read about it before, in elven texts.”
“I’ve heard of it, too,” Venrick said. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember in what context.”
“I’d never heard of it before,” Lark added.
