Ndete had never expected to see so much green.
Snow, rock, frost... these were what came to mind when she envisioned the Northern Reaches. Not a lush valley spreading away to rolling green hills, framed by fingers of sparkling blue water that stretched into the distance. Not the incredible variety of trees in so many shades of color that they were like jewels.
"It's beautiful..." she breathed.
"I'm glad you like it." Fayal said, and then he was zipping away, following Xian's trail as she headed toward a group of dragons clustered together below.
Ndete made to follow, but slowed as something caught her eye. A large brown structure nestled against the far side of one of the slender blue lakes. Curls of smoke from several points rose into the air above it, wisps of gray scattered by the wind leaving only the faintest scent of ash and wood.
"Ndete!" Xian's excited voice pulled her attention back to the ground below. "Come and meet everyone."
Ndete let the youngster draw her gaze back to the increasingly large gathering below, but her thoughts were as diffused as the smoke, blown apart by the breezes.
Was it a human structure? One of their dwelling places? Were they truly at this very moment so close to her that they could look up and see her against the sky? If she looked back, would she see one of them, not just a shifted dragon but a true human in all their mortalis truth?
"Quincess," the dulcet toned voice startled her, eliciting guilt for having been distracted. "It is such a pleasure to meet you."
Ndete landed between Fayal and Xian.
"Ndete," Fayal said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, "this is my mother. Methana, mate of Farallon, my father."
She was more cream than white. Her scales sparkled in the sunlight, yet still looked soft rather than hard. Her eyes were like the midnight sky.
"I see where Xian gets her beauty," Ndete said, dipping her head in respect.
"You flatter me," Methana replied in her velvety smooth voice. "Ah, here is Farallon now."
Ndete raised her head to find violet eyes locked on her own. Gasping, she turned to ensure that Fayal was beside her, and not before her.
"I know," Fayal said before she could speak. "It's a bit uncanny."
There was a rumble of laughter. "He is a rock tumbled from the mountain, eh?" The deep bass voice, at least, was far different from Fayal's. Ndete was almost relieved at the distinguishing feature.
"Indeed he is," she answered, dipping her head again. "Well met, Farallon of the Northern Reaches."
"Well met, Ndete, first daughter of the Pendragon." His eyes sparkled with good humor. "Did your father ever tell you that we were friends as youngsters?"
"No." She was going to nip him for the oversight when she returned home. "He did not."
"Ah well, with good reason probably. We were quite the troublemakers in our youth."
A thought began to tickle at the back of Ndete's brain.
"So you have not always lived here, in the Northern Reaches?"
Farallon's eyes, violet twins of Fayal's, regarded her intently. He glanced at his son. "I see you are drawn to the same sharpness of mind that drew me to your mother."
"She doesn't miss much," Fayal agreed.
Ndete tried to give him a sidelong glance, but he wisely kept his eyes averted. She watched, amusement tempering her fire, as a muscle twitched near his lips.
"Come," Farallon said. "Let us discuss the tales of my childhood as we eat. I'm sure you're all hungry after your long journey."
It was true. Ndete's stomach rumbled at the mention of food. The small gathering around them followed as they made their way along the field, toward an outcropping of granite that jutted from the earth like the bones of some ancient ancestor.
As they walked, Xian pointed to various people around them.
"That's Opala, my father's sister. And that's Pelee, my grandmother."
Ndete nodded to each one. They returned her greetings with good-natured smiles.
"Everyone here seems so friendly," she whispered to Fayal when Xian scampered ahead.
"They're good people," he agreed. "I'm sure you'll meet some who are not so pleasant, but I'm glad to say they are few and far between."
Too bad the same couldn't be said for her own colony, or those that chose to stay within its confines.
"It's one of the reasons my father chose this place for our colony."
Chose it?
He'd come here to start a new colony? But that would mean...
Ndete blinked in surprise.
"Ah, here we are."
They rounded a large ridge, revealing a cavernous opening on the other side. Ndete stopped, staring into the opening.
"What's wrong?"
She frowned in confusion. "It goes up." She frowned at the gently inclined rock, leading upward into the darkness rather than down.
How could a warren be above the ground? How would they access the warmth of the inner fires? She turned to Fayal in confusion and found his face a mask of surprise.
"You've never seen a mountain lair?"
She frowned. "I've heard the term," her voice was more defensive than she liked. "I just thought it meant the belly of the mountain. Not the crown."
Fayal nodded. "I understand. Come on. Let me show you. I think you'll understand once you can see it for yourself."
She followed him in, feeling tentative in spite of his reassurances, but the moment she ducked into the shadowed cavern and the smell of food reached her nostrils any hesitance disappeared.
"Is that Ilkenbeast?"
Fayal chuckled. "You've had it before?"
"Not in a very long time." She hurried along the passage, following her nose as much as Fayal. "The Ilken disappeared from the Pendrada – my father's fields – years ago. We have not seen a single one in at least five spans."
"Five?" Fayal's voice was several notches higher than usual. "What do you hunt?"
Ndete frowned at his incredulity. "We don't." It took her a moment to realize he'd stopped. She turned back to him.
"You don't hunt?"
She shook her head slowly, suddenly unsure of the weight of the revelation.
"What do you eat?"
"Bovas, mostly. Our herd is over five hundred thick."
Fayal cocked his head. "Your... herd?"
Annoyance began to itch at the back of her neck. She swiped at it fiercely. "Yes, herd. What's wrong with that?"
Fayal didn't back down at all. He merely stared at her with so much concern that she immediately felt guilty for snapping.
"There is a legend, Ndete. One that talks about a scourge that will whittle the fire that makes us who we are. How does it go?" He squinted into the darkness, tapping one claw against the rock floor. "Oh, yes. When mighty fires cease to rage... then darkness fills the day; when mighty hunters hunt no more, thence they become the prey. Hearken ye, the scourge that comes, that steals away the fire; first young, then old, til every soul lies still atop the pyre."
Ndete felt a sliver of ice slip across her hide, leaving a stinging wound behind.
"You think Pina died because we stopped hunting?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
Fayal's eyes went wide. "Oh Ndete, no! I didn't mean it like that, I swear. I only meant that the timing is strange. That the two events were connected in the legend. I didn't mean to imply that anything anyone did caused your brother's illness."
She nodded, but couldn't shake the sense that there might be more too it. Is that all the legend meant? That the timing was connected? Or was there more to it? Had they brought about the very illness that was destroying them?
"Come on," Fayal urged her gently. "It's not much farther."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then moved to follow as he led her deeper into the mountain. The light ahead flickered, as if a fire burned. The temperature in the cavern began to warm. Ahead of her, Fayal turned a corner and stopped, looking back to wait for her. She came up alongside. It took her a moment to realize that the path had ended, and that they were standing at the mouth of a doorway leading to open air.
"What is it?"
Fayal smiled. "Take a look."
She stretched her neck, twisting to look out and down. There was nothing but sheer rock walls, reflecting a burning light. She stretched farther, edging as close to the lip of rock as she could. Finally far, far below her she spotted a pool of yellow-red, dancing with flames. It bubbled and steamed, filling the enormous cavern with warmth.
So that was how they connected to the inner fires.
Still, how where did they meet? There was no floor. The entire mountain was hollow, filled with the molten lava that had created it. She looked back at Fayal, opening her mouth to ask, but he merely flicked his eyes upward.
Ndete craned her neck again, this time twisting to look up rather than down.
"How...?" she breathed.
Fayal's breath was warm against her shoulder."We call them the Petranantes," he said. "The floating rocks."