Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) (36 page)

Dear Lady,

I miss you so much! Tran and I are at Indanna's Keep with all the other Dalorens. You wouldn't believe this place, lady! The Keep is just like the tower we read about in
Arborennian Nights
, with the maze of hallways and candles everywhere. Though they should've mentioned in the book how hard it is to breathe with this much candle smoke. I can't seem to stop sneezing.

I've been given my own chambers, too, with my own bed and closet and bookshelf. I've never read any of these books before. I don't think the castle had them in the library. I wish I could show them to you so we could read them together.

Kirkis is the head Daloren, and he has been asking me all sorts of questions about my past. He says he will help me with my magic in a few days, after they finish preparing my oath ceremony. They're still discussing how to have me take an oath when I have no real name to swear by.

Grool isn't fitting in very well. He keeps drinking all the spirits meant for my oath ceremony, and when Beva, one of the apprentices, told him to stop, Grool hit her with a candlestick. Beva has a pretty ugly bruise on her hand and all of her spells have been misfiring.

Write when you can. I know you are busy, but I miss you and want to hear all about your adventures. Just make sure you leave out the romantic parts.

I keep your rook in my pocket.

~Fleck

P.S. Tran wanted me to tell you to find the wizard in Karth, because he will be able to point you in the right direction. And he says to hurry because you are running out of time. Oh, and he says to be careful because Pendel isn't safe for you. And…

A note from Tran followed.

Princess Daria,

You are in great danger. Find Arioch Prime. And you'll need this.

There was a drawing of a multi-faceted stone.

~Tran

Both notes struck me in a myriad of ways for various reasons, but more than anything, I couldn't figure out why in the world Tran thought a drawing of a stone might help me. And why the sudden caution? Hadn't he encouraged us to go to Karth in the first place? And was me being in danger really anything new? Or did he somehow know about Zombie Hulk?

These were the things running through my mind when fingers brushed my elbow. I was so startled I slammed the book shut and twisted around, nearly elbowing Alex in the face.

"Alex!" I said. "You're awake!"

He made a little grunting sound in the back of his throat, then slowly started to push himself up so that he could sit. His movements were stiff and unsteady, and I reached out to help him, but he shook his head.

"How do you feel?" I studied him. There was still a little bit of salt residue clinging to his lashes and sprinkled on his lips.

He finally managed to sit up, though he leaned back on his hands with his legs stretched out behind me. "I feel surprisingly well. And…naked." He glanced up at me. Even though he had just woken, his deep green eyes were clear and intense as he studied me.

My cheeks warmed. "I guess we're even now." I grinned. He had, after all, undressed me in my state of unconsciousness when I'd fallen into an ice-cold pond during the festival games. However, his expression turned accusatory, and I added, "I didn't have a choice, Alex. You were soaked to the bone with ice water. I promise I didn't look."

He smiled at me in a way that said he didn't believe me one bit.

My cheeks grew hotter and I punched him lightly in the shoulder.

He feinted pain. "After everything I've just gone through for you, I can't believe you would hit me."

I snorted a laugh. "Here, drink this." I handed him my canteen. I'd saved what little water we'd had left, because I knew he would be parched after drinking that much saltwater. Still smiling, he took it and downed it in one gulp.

"Thanks." He smacked his lips and handed me back my canteen. "That helps."

"You don't feel any pain or anything?" I asked, setting my canteen aside.

"Aside from my shoulder?"

I rolled my eyes.

He chuckled and shook his head a fraction. "Nothing."

I held my hands out toward him. "Do you mind if I check for myself?"

His expression grew slightly bemused. "Go right ahead."

I moved so that I could sit on my heels and placed a hand on his shoulder. His skin was warm and smooth beneath my palm. I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and with my next exhale, I pushed my breath through my limbs and let it slip beyond my fingertips. I met resistance at first, but then I pushed a little bit harder and my senses broke through, like pushing a needle through taut fabric. Then my senses swept through his body uninhibited. The poison was still gone and warmth pulsed through him—a warmth that had steadily been growing stronger ever since I'd healed him. And now his body practically hummed with energy. Satisfied, I let my senses retreat from him, pulled back my hand, and opened my eyes.

Alex's green eyes were locked on my face. He raised a salted brow and a light smile touched his lips. "Satisfied?"

"Absolutely," I said, folding my hands together and putting them in my lap. "The poison is gone and your energy seems to have returned to normal."

His gaze flickered over my face as if he were trying to make sense of its arrangement. "What kind of a creature are you?"

I smiled broadly at him, grabbed one of his hands, and placed it between both of my palms. "The kind that's been worried sick about you, Alex. I thought…" I sighed. "I thought I'd lost you."

He let one breath pass and then he reached out with his free hand and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "And you should have. The dragon's bane should have killed me hours ago. I'm not even sure my mother would have been able to heal a wound like that."

"How did you know what kind of poison it was?" I asked.

He pulled his hand from mine and sat up straight, loosely crossing his arms over his waist. His eyes fixed on a point in front of him as his brow knit together. "I heard everything, Daria. I knew what was happening, but I couldn't…I couldn't
move
." He raked a hand through his hair, or at least he tried to. His fingers got stuck in salted clumps, so instead he rubbed his head, sending a fine shower of salt upon his bare shoulders and torso. "It was the worst kind of nightmare. To know what was happening around me—to know what was happening to
you
—and not be able to do anything."

"You heard what Eris said, then," I whispered.

He nodded, his expression solemn.

"Is it true?" I asked. "What he said about my mother?"

Alex dusted some of the salt from his torso. "I don't know." He sighed. "My mother doesn't talk about her life
before
Valdon. You'd have to ask her."

"Well, if what Eris said was true, then maybe that's why Sonya's never said anything."

"Maybe." He thought about this then looked back up at me with that same sort of wonder and curiosity. "I suppose there is one good thing that came out of his controversial monologue. Now we know why your magical ability has been so erratic. But what I can't figure is how you've managed to break through Headmaster Ambrose's barriers…
twice
."

"That makes two of us," I said. "It'd be nice to know, too. It seems like I'm only able to break through them under situations of extreme desperation, and if he ever puts those barriers up again, I'd rather not be forced to put myself back in a desperate situation to break them down."

Alex made a soft grunting sound. "I don't think you'll have to worry about putting yourself in a desperate situation. They seem to have a way of finding you on their own."

I sighed. "Tell me about it. I feel like Eeyore, only my shower of rain is more like a shower of blazing meteors."

Alex grinned, and then he moved over an inch and patted the space beside him. I scooted over and sat in the space he'd patted, our thighs barely touching. I tried not thinking about the fact that he was naked under his cloak, especially when he reached out and set his palm on the back of my hand, threaded his fingers through mine, and pulled both of our hands onto his leg. I could feel his rough calluses on the back of my hand—rough calluses that represented hands that were used to doing things themselves.

"Daria, I'm sorry," Alex whispered.

I looked sideways at him, but I found myself studying his profile because he was staring at our intertwined hands. "I can't imagine why you are apologizing right now."

His shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. "I should've known better. I should've been there for you." He squeezed my hand. "I am your Aegis. You're not supposed to be the one rescuing me. I…I failed you."

"Alex." This time, I turned my body toward him so that my knees were slightly in his lap. My hand was still in his lap, too. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. It was
my
fault. I'm the one that made the decision to go to Ven Orelius and use the portal. Not you. And besides…who says I can't rescue
you
every once in a blue moon? Get over yourself, and let someone else be the hero for a change."

He looked back at me, his eyes glittering like emeralds. "I hate to remind you, Daria, but it's a precedence
you've
set. You concoct some ridiculous plan that nearly gets us killed, and I find a way to make sure we survive." He tilted his head. "I'm not so sure I trust you with
my
job. Don't let this one instance get to your head. You don't exactly have the practice…or record, for that matter." He smiled at me.

Oh, his smiles!

I chuckled. "Maybe you should let me practice, then." I reached out and dusted the salt from his bottom lip. I really wanted to kiss him. He must have sensed this because he cleared his throat, pulled his hand from mine, and turned his face away, looking at our hollow like it was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.

"Where are we?" he asked suddenly.

Fine.

"You didn't hear Vera and me talking last night?" I asked.

"No, everything is hazy after Eris."

I was relieved he hadn't heard our conversation, because so much of it had revolved around him. "We landed on the southern shores of Pendel," I said. "Vera found the note I left and thought it was strange, so she grabbed Mercedes and came after us. Mercedes tried to send us on to Pendel's portal, but because of Pendel's wards, we landed in the ocean, about forty-five miles away from Karth, instead."

He breathed in so slowly and so deeply it was like he was breathing in all of my words and holding them there so that he could process them. With his next exhale he asked, "Where is Vera, by the way?"

"Just outside," I said. "She stepped out a few minutes before you woke."

He sat there quietly, still mulling things over, and then he said, "There's something else I'd like to ask you." He looked very concerned about this question he was about to ask. "I heard the most horrible sounds last night, but I'm not sure if that was a dream…"

"Ah." I dusted a few particles of salt from my knees. "Right after we landed, Vera and I were attacked."

"By?"

"We're not sure what it was," I admitted. "It looked like some kind of corpse, but it was faster and stronger than anything I've ever seen. Vera doesn't know what it was, either. Her weapons did nothing, and I was finally able to kill it with fire."

"
You
," he repeated.

I nodded, and he looked even more quizzical. "I'm not sure what I did, though. Some kind of magical blue fire came out of me and engulfed the thing, and then it ran into the ocean. We haven't seen it since."

Now Alex looked really worried. "There haven't been any more?"

"No, and we've been keeping watch. Do you have any idea what it could have been?"

Alex shook his head.

I studied his face. "What are you thinking?"

He sighed through tight lips. "I'm thinking that either we were attacked because we just happened to be in the vicinity, or your being here has something to do with it."

"How could my being here have anything do with it?" I asked.

Alex hesitated. "I don't know, but there are a lot of things springing to life since you've arrived on this planet, Daria. All I'm saying is that it wouldn't surprise me."

He did have a point there.

"Were you writing Tran?" he asked, gesturing toward the bindingbook on the floor beside me.

"I was going to, but I haven't yet," I said. "I was reading a letter from him—Fleck, too. Here, I'll let you read it." I opened the book and set it in Alex's lap so that he could read the book himself. He leaned forward and a clump of his hair fell against his forehead, his eyes sliding quickly over the page while he read, and once he finished he looked even more concerned than before. I didn't know why; Tran had written all of three short sentences.

"You said we're forty-five miles from the capital?" Alex asked.

"Yes—at least, that's what Vera and I think, based on the landscape and the position of the stars."

"Have you told him your plan yet?" Vera was standing at the mouth of the hollow, arms folded over her chest. Her white-blonde hair had that beautiful windblown quality to it, and her cheeks and lips were red from the wind. She looked kind of like she'd just stepped away from a Victoria Secret photo shoot. I briefly looked down at myself. Life just wasn't fair.

Alex didn't seem to notice my comparison. In fact, he was looking straight at me, his features hardened with skepticism. "What plan?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, quit looking so skeptical."

"This is
you
we're talking about," Alex said, eyeing me as if to say
what did I say earlier?
"Of course I'm skeptical."

"Here…" I leaned over to my pack and pulled out the map, unfolding it so that we could both look it over. "We've landed here"—I pointed to a small alcove south of Karth—"which is two full days of walking. Assuming we don’t hit any trouble."