Dragonsbane (Dragonsbane Duology Book I)

Chapter 60: The Force of the Kingdom

Mindin flew with a drifting gaze.

She couldn't get her mother off of her mind, and when she thought of Reav it was no better. All alone in the world now, she had only a handful of others like her but she knew little of them. 

Her father was gone from rage, her mother from pain and anger. She couldn't attribute a basic reason to Reav's death, perhaps it was loyalty to her parents, he could have gone, he could've left like so many of the others when Erimon won, but he stayed, he always stayed.

She thought of Midir for the first time in a good while.

From the time he could fly he was always getting into trouble. Going out too far, seeking adventure, risking men with arrows seeing him. Covac had always been tough on him, militaristic. She'd always felt close to her mother, her father was quiet. 

They went so many years barely knowing each other. Maev always said he deeply loved her but he never said. It wasn't his way. She wished there was some imprint in her mind of his voice associated with those words.

"I'm sorry she had to die like that..."

The human was talking. Larian looked genuinely saddened, like the horrific sight had upset him. 

Mindin flew along quietly for a while, choosing her words. "She would want us to keep fighting. "

Larian nodded. For a moment it seemed as though he would leave it at that, but more words flowed. "Do you trust me?"

Mindin didn't answer. 

He wondered if she had some resentment towards him. Her mother and Reav were only gone because of him. He told himself that was true, but also that if not for his journey there, they could have met even worse fates.

They were at war, they were fighting for their lives, and they were doing it together. The dragons weren't the only ones who had suffered great losses. There were only a handful of his own men riding towards Ardan Crann with him.

The ride was so surprisingly smooth that Larian nearly drifted off. It seemed that riding a dragon wasn't as chaotic as he'd initially imagined when first scaling Maev's wing. He didn't want to know what it was like to be on the back of one that didn't want him there though.

His eyes went to the ebony tower once they broke through the clouds. Soon he could see the faint figure of a woman in armor below, near the tower, but not looking upon it.

***

Nemedia was sitting cross legged with her head bowed in meditation towards the tear in the sky when she sensed the dragons coming.

She stood, coming out of her trance and welcomed them to the mountaintop. Larian eyed her like a potential foe but relaxed as the dragons seemed to know her. The Queen moved close to him, immediately drawn. 

"May I?"

He wasn't sure what she meant but he did not pull away or move. As a Queen she had inspired trust, had been someone who people always went to. When she moved, Larian experienced what many had, he froze.

She bowed her head to him; he remembered watching Branwen do the same thing to Cara. It was the third eye, looking into someone's being, sensing magic, sensing will.

Nemedia's reading of him was quick and she pulled away with confusion. The readings were usually clear, there was potential, or there wasn't. What she sensed in him made her furrow her brow. She remained quiet for a long while. The look of confusion remained on her face when she spoke.

"You are... gifted."

Larian shook his head with widened eyes. "What do you mean?"

Nemedia thought about reading him again but didn't. "I'm not sure..."