Tyrez stood out of the way. He wanted to get back to Dani, but it was more important that the Gryphons had space to pass through.
“Tyrez!”
He turned, and his sister, Bianta, all but leaped to put her human arms around his neck. It shocked him—both her presence, and the fact she was not, usually, an expressive Dragona. But now, as she squeezed him hard and then backed away, her eyes filled with tears.
“Whats ares yous doing here?” he asked.
“Cara sent a soldier back to the palace. He was one of the few that didn’t get nailed by those missile things. I decided to come. Mother didn’t want me to. Father forbade me. Father is—not himself. But short of chaining me up, they couldn’t stop me. And someone had to be here.” Her flashing eyes revealed the true depths of her concern, but her expression twisted as she looked around. “Taran? Razir?” Her eyes returned to his, filled with fear.
“Razir iss overs there. Cara has beens working ons him, the parasite iss hiss main issue. Taran”—he hesitated, but when her eyes widened in horror, he continued—“he’ss alive ats the moment. But hes has lost a forearm, ands a wing, as wells as being infected.”
“Lost...” Her face drained of all color.
Tyrez couldn’t stop his spikes from bristling erect. His instincts were to shield his sister from the worst, but she was here as an official and would need to report back. “Those sstill ins the others realm ares in worse shape. Theys fells into the ocean ands were attacked by predators.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “The entire Legion—”
“The Legion iss no more. Those ins this meadows may survive to fights again if the Gryphons cans heals them. But the others...”
He saw the impact of it hit her. For an instant, she sagged. Then she straightened and faced him. “What did this? Was it what you feared?”
“Yes. Rindek sents the parasitess against uss. Shots them into the Dragonss as darts.”
“Parasites...” He saw her mind at work. Bianta had inherited the best from both of their parents—his father’s brisk, calculating intelligence, and his mother’s sense of priorities and balance. “Can they change back to human?”
“No. The fews that tried, died insstantly.”
She swallowed, straightened, and took charge. “These Dragons cannot be taken back to the empire until we have ascertained these parasites cannot be transmitted to others. Until then, this forest will work as a quarantine zone. So the Gryphons will need help getting the survivors moved from the other realm and set up here.” She glanced at the Gryphons, some of who now hovered over the prone Dragons. “I need to know how transmissible these parasites are before I authorize sending more Dragons to help.”
Tyrez cast his mind back to when Cara had done the initial assessment. “The natural forms ofs this parasite—Cara said its wass transsmitted tos our humans half by biting flies.” He looked around him. “Rindek used a forms of dart tos injects it into uss as Dragons. That indicates its needs to be carrieds to the blood tos infect.”
Bianta considered. “How sure of that are we?”
Tyrez shrugged. “It has beens modified froms the original form that lived ins balance with uss. Thiss iss an entirely differents beast.”
His sister’s mouth pulled into a grim line. “I will ask for volunteers, and they will have to stay in quarantine with the soldiers. The Gryphons are not built for strength—they will not be able to haul our soldiers here through the gate while they are in Dragon form, even if they are phase one. We don’t even know if the Gryphons are susceptible to this parasite...” She shook her head and met his gaze. He read, deep within them, her acknowledgment of what all this meant.
That with the Legion in pieces, the Dragon’s empire was vulnerable. As were all the realms they protected.
“We will need to call on our reserve forces,” she said. “I will take this news to our parents and send whatever help I can.”
Her face reflected her near-panic. Bianta was capable and a natural leader, but she’d never been through a test like this.
Tyrez swung his head to butt her very gently. “Yous ares a worthy leader ands will makes our peoples a wonderful Matriarch.”
“Oh, stop,” she said, batting at his head with her hand. But her expression had altered, the fear being replaced with determination. “I want to see Razir. Where is he?”
Tyrez pointed her to where a Gryphon bent beside a purple form that was now sitting on its haunches. Bianta inhaled sharply and ran toward them.
Tyrez’s eyes scanned the meadow for another figure—and found it, crumpled at the base of an enormous tree root.
Ash stared at him, his silver eyes glowing from the shadows.
Tyrez found himself standing in front of the young Dragon with no memory of having stomped over there. The eyes had never left his, not for a moment. They were huge in a face so gaunt it twisted his heart. Starvation? Abuse? Likely both. The gaze was chaotic as it scanned Tyrez’s Dragon, as though Ash’s thoughts followed no coherent path.
Even with the skin hugging so close to his bones, Ash was beautiful. But pain was etched into every inch. The scales were so reduced on his body that they barely covered his hips, and they were roughened as if they couldn’t lie flat. With so little flesh on him, his shoulders and hips protruded. Tyrez could count every rib, and there were permanent scars on his wrists and ankles where the small, fine scales had been rubbed away. And others—so many healed wounds on his bare skin, as though he hadn’t been able to protect himself with his scales. They were everywhere. Some looked fresh and lay over much older ones.
Ice chased down Tyrez’s spine. Those scars—he’d seen them before. On Alex’s skin.
