A shadow passed over them. The Archmage looked up and hissed like an angry snake.
The Dragon landed with a thud that shook the ground. Great long talons penetrated deep into the soft earth. It towered over them, standing on its hind legs with its wings spread wide. The metallic turquoise eyes gleamed at the Archmage, and his deep rumble vibrated through the soil beneath her.
Rindek fired bolt after bolt at the Dragon, and they all ricocheted harmlessly off the gleaming scales. The Dragon’s front legs came down very near her, and the long jaws opened as the back of the throat glowed red-hot.
Dragons really could breathe fire. She’d seen it in the battle beneath the trees.
A bolt of pure lightning shot from the mausoleum. It hit the Dragon hard across the temple, scorching a raw path through the scales and knocking the huge creature sideways.
Rindek didn’t hesitate. In a flash, he was across the grass and through the portal. Three Dires followed him. The Dragon leaped at the swirling mirage, but it vanished in an explosion of spent power.
Dani scanned for Rindek’s other Dires—but the other two would never rise again.
The Dragon roared its rage to the night sky. Dani’s vision swam as his enormous head lowered over her, his eyes gleaming.
Then the darkness rose, and she saw nothing more.
11
Ash reflected that knowing something was coming didn’t make it any easier to bear.
Today, it wasn’t just the ocean drenching him with spray. Chained to the rock with his arms and legs spread wide, the wind and rain pounded on him too.
The physical discomfort couldn’t compare to the scorched remnants of his mind. Rindek had encouraged Demeti to practice on him, showing his offspring how to send pulse after pulse of pain through the collar. Rather than just using it unfocused, the Archmage instructed Demeti how to inflict maximum agony while not completely frying Ash’s brain.
They’d kept at it until Ash was certain that this time, Rindek would let him die.
Some timelines said he would. But apparently, not this one. The Archmage escorted his son away and left Ash to the elements.
At least Rindek hadn’t left Demeti alone with him. He was grateful for that. Although he’d forgotten why.
Right after they left, coherent thought was impossible. But with each hour that passed, he healed. Some things didn’t survive the onslaught. The brain wasn’t like muscles and organs and bones—memories were fragile, and easily destroyed. But Ash’s ability to link to the past, as well as the future, meant he could rebuild most of those memories.
Most, but not all.
The memory of his mother was one that he’d lost and regained more times than he could count. He’d never known her; she’d died when he was born. But that she existed at all, beneath that cairn in the rocks, was a revelation each time Rindek turned his power loose on Ash’s brain.
It came to him again as he hung from the chains.His mother.Her body lay a hundred feet above him.
If he died, he doubted Rindek would be so bothered as to build a cairn. Was surprised he’d done it for her. Of course, for someone of Rindek’s talents, it was a few gestures and a moment or two of his time.
But the Archmage could have more easily tossed her body to the scavengers in the ocean.
Another memory surfaced from the past—and Ash ground his teeth. The reason Rindek had buried her was that he’d wished toharvesther. The Archmage had drained her blood and buried the remains so that he could access the residual power from her body, if need be.
True vampires may not exist, but Rindek was the closest thing to one that Ash knew of. This pile of rock contained very little of the life power the Archmage craved. The last time he’d given Demeti a lesson on sucking it from the world, half the flightless bird colony had perished. And beneath the waves, the reef system had sustained damage.
The Dragons had good reason to hate Rindek’s kind.
Ash writhed against the rock as, one by one, the memories returned to him. If he could have chosen otherwise, he would have.
Better to never remember the horrors he’d seen and endured. But it was the only way forward.
So he slumped against the chains and accepted them home.
* * *
Dani dreamed:
