Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) (45 page)

Conscience, not now, please.

And then I saw the perfect arched stone pathway. I had to correct my momentum so fast that I nearly lost my footing, and I grabbed hold of the corner of the entrance to keep myself upright. I scrambled down broad steps and straight for the tiered lines of laundry spanning between buildings like a giant cobweb of fabric. I glanced back; Lorimer rounded the corner and Thad was right behind him, his eyes and hair wild.

I ran straight into the laundry, ducking around and under the lowest tier until I was in the center of it all, and then I allowed myself a deep breath. The wind around me swirled and twisted in a cyclone, ripping down shirts and huge sheets and pants and socks. Lorimer had reached the vortex of clean laundry, unsure of what to do next, with me standing in the eye of the storm. I knew he was there—I could feel him—but I couldn't see him through all the fabric. Very slowly, I tiptoed through my fabric cyclone and to the side of the alley, holding tight to my chain so that it didn't rattle and give away my location. When I felt Lorimer move forward, I struck. I pressed my palms together and slammed the sides of them into the cluster of nerves at the base of his neck, and he collapsed in a heap, unconscious. And then all the laundry stopped spinning and drifted down on top of him like great leaves in autumn, burying him from sight.

Thad was standing at the edge, looking impressed, arms folded over his chest. "You know, Rook, you could have just hid around a corner and attacked him from behind."

"Yeah, well, I couldn’t exactly find anything big enough to hide behind that was also out of sight from everyone else." I pursed my lips. "And I'm a little limited, you know." I held up my cuffs and shook them, letting the chain rattle.

Thad arched a brow. "You aren't supposed to be able to do magic with those things on."

"It wasn't magic," I said. "It was Cian."

Thad gasped. "What, you two are pals now? I thought that was just a fancy wish of your father's."

I shrugged. "So did I."

Thad folded his arms over his chest and scowled. "Well, that's hardly fair. You get the wind elemental
and
the magical ability of a high magic mage."

I looked down at the small rise in the fabric where Lorimer's unconscious body lay. "We need to get out of here before he wakes up."

"You could kill him," Thad said quietly.

I glared up at him. "No. There's been enough death."

Thad looked like he'd expected this answer and sighed. But it didn't stop me from turning around and kicking Lorimer hard where I thought his stomach would be. "That's for lying about me to the guard." And then I stomped my foot where I thought his crotch should be. "And that's for your pig of a son."

Thad smirked at me. "You done? I need your arm again."

Thad and I left Lorimer and the laundry, exited the quiet pathway, and continued up the main street like nothing had ever happened. Though I did feel sorry for whoever had strung all that laundry, because they'd find a right and dirty mess. Luckily, there were fewer people here, and none seemed to recognize us. When the street forked in thirds, Thad took the one farthest left, which led us up a very steep and strenuous incline. It reminded me of the streets of San Francisco.

"I hope you know where you're going," I grunted. "If I find out that I've climbed all this and there's nothing…"

"Relax," Thad panted, squeezing my arm. "I know where I'm going."

He eventually stopped before the face of one of the buildings to admire a fresco.

"Thad," I huffed, trying to put my hands on my hips, but then realizing I couldn't stretch them far enough apart. "I don't have time to be admiring artwork."

The fresco was a picture of dragons. There was one great white dragon rising above the rest, and on that great white dragon sat a rider. They were sailing over a luxuriant land of mountains and river and wildlife, the picture so crisp and so clear I could almost see the wind ruffling the man's hair and almost hear the beat of the dragons' wings…

"Ah, I think this is it," Thad said, pointing to a spot in the green fields.

I looked at Thad. I looked at the spot. I looked back at Thad. "How is that spot any different than the spot of green five inches to the right?"

Thad rolled his eyes and grumbled something that sounded like, "And
she's
the one who inherits all the special powers." He moved his finger in a circular pattern around the spot. "Look harder. See it?" he asked.

"See what…" And then I saw it: it was an autostereogram. Like I was staring at a Magic-Eye picture, where if you stared hard enough, another image came to life—a 3-dimensional image made of the background. And that's exactly what happened. The green in the grasses layered themselves into a 3-dimensional image of… "But what is that supposed to be?" I tilted my head as if changing the angle might help, but all I saw was a symbol that looked a little like the letter "D," but with strange accents.

"It's the symbol for Draconi, I think," Thad said, looking over his shoulder, as if checking to make sure no one was watching.

"Draconi, as in those with the blood of dragons?"

Thad looked back at me, surprised. "Yeah, how did you—"

"Long story," I said. "But why is that symbol important?"

"Because there are still some people in this world that believe the line of the Draconi wasn't lost. Your loon, Arioch Prime, is one of them."

"And what do you think?" I asked.

Thad rubbed his chin, and then shrugged. "I don't know. I don’t really care, either, and I won't until I see a dragon—"

"I've seen a dragon," I said. "Two, actually."

He gaped at me and dozens of questions filled his gaze. I briefly wondered how he would've missed the dragon in Thieves, but then thought he and Denn and the others had probably run off shortly after our fight. They certainly hadn't been around when we'd been fighting the guards near the shortcut.

"The story will have to wait," I said. "You're taking me to Arioch Prime, and I'd rather not keep Alex and Vera waiting any longer than we have to."

Thad still looked a little stunned, then blinked and gazed back at the fresco as if he'd suddenly forgotten what he was looking for.

I decided to help him and pointed. "The Draconi symbol…?"

"Right." He raked a hand through his hair, then looked back over his shoulder at me. "You've really seen two dragons—"

"Thad."

"Okay, okay…" He looked back at the wall, trailing his pointer finger over the symbol. "There has to be a way to activate it somehow…" His eyes darted over that one little place, and he checked back behind us, again, to make sure no one was around.

We stood there about thirty minutes while Thad tried all sorts of things: enchantments and charms, touching the symbol this way or that way, tracing it or holding his fingers on different points. He only paused when people walked by.

I didn't know where it came from, but I had a thought. Acting on this sudden whim, I walked right up to the letter and breathed hot breath upon it.

"Well, that isn't gonna…" Thad's voice trailed as the image changed.

The symbol darkened until it turned black, and then the triangular space between the lines turned red, and the entire thing popped out of the wall like a button. Thad and I exchanged a glance, and I pushed it in. The red glowed brightly, there was a pulse of energy, and a door appeared, just like it had always been there, right where the river had been. Windows slowly popped into view where the mountains had been, golden light glowing behind, and Thad and I watched while our fresco slowly transformed itself into the face of a very charming stone house. And then the door opened.

A man appeared in the doorway, tall and thin with a face full of wrinkles and cropped white hair crowning his head like snow. He wore a loose tunic and plain brown pants that looked as if he'd filled them out at one time, but long life had stolen his former girth. It was his eyes that held me transfixed—clear and blue like the sky on a bright and sunny day. They reminded me of someone else, too. They reminded me of Tran.

And when those eyes settled on me, he smiled a gentle and reminiscent smile. "Oh, I've been waiting an entire lifetime for you."

Chapter 22

The Weight of Truth

H
e ushered Thad and me through the door, glancing briefly at the street beyond. People walked past, though none seemed to notice us. It was as if they simply didn't see us standing there, or, for that matter, his house. And when I stepped through the door, I found myself in a room the likeness of Dumbledore's office.

A great atrium stretched upward, stuffed to the brim with rows and rows of books and knickknacks, and metalwork was scattered all over the floor and the broad steps leading to his desk because there simply wasn't room enough for it all. There were great brass spheres attached to large brass rings like planets in orbit, moving slowly around a central sphere like a small solar system in motion. There was a Newton's cradle the size of a small swing set standing beside it, and a giant pendulum hung from a place so high in the ceiling I had to squint to find the top. The pendulum's base looked like a fat, titanium pencil, and it was drawing large, sweeping circles into a sunken, shallow pit of white sand in the stone floor. And all around the pit of sand were strange markings and runes, shimmering gold in the light, and as I looked closer, I noticed that the shapes the pendulum had been drawing in the sand weren't really circles. It had drawn layers of the same symbol I'd seen on the wall outside—the symbol of Draconi.

"It is the symbol of your past," the old man said in the sort of voice that told stories around roaring fires where all the children gathered eagerly.

I looked up to find him watching me. The smile was still on his face, and then he placed a hand over his heart. "I am Arioch Prime," he said. "And it is truly an honor."

"I am—"

"Daria Regius," he finished for me. "I know. You are the last of the Draconi."

I exchanged a glance with Thad, and Thad shrugged as if to say,
What did I tell you?

"Yes…" I started, turning my attention back to Arioch Prime, "but I'm not related to any Draconi. My father is…was a Regius and my mother was a Pandor." It was still hard placing my father in the appropriate tense. But Arioch Prime wasn't looking at me any more. He had turned his attention to Thad.

Thad stood ogling what would have been a chemistry teacher's dream. There were Bunsen burners and beakers and flasks and huge Erlenmeyer bulbs filled with bubbling blues and bright greens. I'd never seen such a magnificent or complicated arrangement. The only thing missing was a fume hood.

"Ah, does the young master have a penchant for alchemy?" Arioch asked, slowly approaching Thad.

Thad squinted as he watched a bright blue vapor thread through a glass tube and into one of the Erlenmeyer bulbs, where it condensed and coated the base of the bulb in solid blue. "Is that oil of calamus?"

Arioch nodded and made a face like there were still other ingredients he wanted Thad to guess.

"And are you mixing it with Dulcis Seed?" Thad asked.

Arioch clasped his hands, pleased.

"But how are you getting the two compounds to fuse together without exploding?" Thad asked, trailing his finger over one of the glass tubes.

"Centuries of study, young man. Centuries. And a bit of callaberry root." Arioch winked as he ambled to Thad's side, while I tried wrapping my mind around the idea of being centuries old. "I'm making essence of Dragon's Breath. Here, let me show you…" Arioch turned the dial of one of the Bunsen burners to reduce the flame beneath one of the large beakers filled with blue. He squeezed a metal clamp, removing it from the bulb, and with a twist, he pulled the bulb free. A thick fragrance immediately filled the air, sweet and aromatic like tuberose, but so strong it tickled my nose and I sneezed.

"Whoa…" Thad's jaw fell open.

Arioch smiled at me and reattached the bulb. "The scent is very strong when concentrated like this."

I wiped my nose. "I'll say. I've smelled the flowers before, but they weren't nearly so—" Sneeze. And I
had
smelled the flowers before because Danton had given me Dragon's Breath flowers during the festival.

"When it's concentrated like this," Arioch continued, "it makes an unparalleled age-reducing emollient."

"I didn't think it was possible!" Thad exclaimed, completely awed.

"All things are possible," Arioch said, "given the right ingredients and conditions. Perhaps I could take you on as a pupil. You seem to know your part and parcel."

"Really?!" Thad gasped, looking like he'd just won the lottery. "You mean you could teach me to—"

"Thad." I gave him a look. We had not come here to find him a potions master. He could find that on his own time.

"Er…yeah. Maybe later," Thad said, and I gave Thad a tight smile of gratitude.

"And do you think maybe…" I held up my cuffs and rattled them.

"Oh, right." He hurried to my side and removed them while Arioch watched in interest. Thad shoved the cuffs in the folds of his cloak.