Goddess of Flames Read online

  "I saw the photograph, Azia. The whole of Draconis saw it. Your eyes were closed. You were enjoying it."

  I remembered the picture on the front cover of the Draconis Sentinel. He was right. I did appear to be blissfully happy with kissing Caspian. I was drunk. That was all. At least, that was the official line. The one I was sticking to.

  "It doesn't matter anyway," he said. "I came in to say goodbye."

  Suddenly, the kiss melted away into unimportance. "What do you mean goodbye? I thought you were going to enter the competition. You said you'd fight for me."

  "I've nothing to fight for anymore. I've withdrawn my entry, and we both know that when you marry Caspian, I won't be needed in the castle anymore. He'll fire me the second your vows have been exchanged. I'm going before I get pushed."

  "No one will push you!" I cried as he turned to walk away.

  "You already have," he replied, leaving me alone in the corridor with only my tears.

  23rd January

  The noise of people talking outside my bedroom window woke me from a fitful sleep. I'd been warned that tents were being erected for the competition today and would it no doubt be noisy, but nothing had quite prepared me for how deafening it was. Dragging myself out of bed, I opened my curtains, surprised to find hundreds of men in the courtyard. On closer inspection, these were my father's guards and not people coming to erect tents. Beyond the castle walls, the people putting up the tents for the competition were there, so why were my father's men in the courtyard? Pulling on a dress, I headed outside to see what was going on.

  My father was easy to spot in the center of the men. Although when I say spot, I heard him first rather than saw him, his voice booming out over the general throng

  "What's happening, Father?" I asked, after pushing my way through the men. The man he was arguing with turned out to be Jacob. As soon as I saw him, a general feeling of unease settled in my stomach.

  "We're going up the mountain!" Jacob replied for him. "We are going to kill the dragons before they kill you."

  I was pretty sure my dying didn't bother him a jot, but he'd been desperate to take the army up to kill the dragons for a while, and now it looked like my father was going to give him a chance.

  I turned to my father. "Why?" I argued. "I told you they wouldn't attack!"

  He shot a glance at Jacob. "Look, Azia. This has been a long time coming. You've been seen twice in the grip of a dragon."

  "You were lucky I managed to shoot you down last time," Jacob interrupted. "Who knows what would have happened to you if I hadn't?"

  My anger spiked. "Lucky? You could have killed me. I spent the night in the hospital wing. You hurt Nyre."

  "Who's Nyre?" Jacob asked, suspiciously.

  "It's a friend of hers," my father said quickly. He obviously didn't want anyone to know that I'd voluntarily been flying with a dragon. It was much easier to pretend I was being kidnapped. "Azia, please go inside. This doesn't concern you. Thousands of people are coming to the competition, and I don't want any repeat performances from the dragons like they did before when they burned some of my men to death. I have the safety of the people to consider, not just yours."

  "But..."

  "Azia! Don't question me," he shouted sternly. "I've told you to go inside, and I expect you to do it."

  Behind him, Jacob smiled smugly, and it took everything I had not to punch him.

  I ran back into the castle, but I wasn't going to stay there. I'd made Vasuki a promise, and I intended to keep it. Once I was out of sight of my father, I dodged around the side of the castle and into the back garden, where I ran through the gate leading to the woods. At the other side of the woods, I shot a beam of light into the air.

  This time, it wasn't Nyre that came to me, but Vasuki. His beautiful blue outstretched wings glided over me before he grabbed me in his talons and whisked me up the mountain. He dropped me in the same empty nest I'd come to when I first met him. This time there was only him there. He turned back into his almost human form.

  "What is going on?" he snapped. "I thought that we had a deal. I did not expect Nyre to come home last night with an injury caused by your men."

  I sucked in a breath, deciding how to handle it. He was usually so calm, but the way he looked at me left me in no doubt that his patience had worn a little too thin.

  "You remember when I accused you of hurting the castle guard, and you told me it wasn't your doing? Well, those men hurting Nyre was none of my doing. How is she?"

  He considered my words for a minute before replying. "The arrow caught her wingtip. It will heal, and she can still fly, but it hurt her." He emphasized the last words.

  "I know it did," I said, clearing my throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. My father is being pushed into it by one of his men. The man has the backing of the people. Just like Darius with you, my father cannot control everyone."

  Vasuki seemed to contemplate this. "I understand how difficult it is to run a kingdom. My kingdom is very small, just one colony, but I cannot sit back and let my people get hurt. I can't let my daughter get hurt."

  "I understand," I said, wondering how he was going to take what I was about to say. "That's why I'm here. My father has ordered many of his men to come up the mountain. They are in the castle courtyard preparing for battle. You need to get all your dragons down into your village where the men cannot reach you."

  Vasuki gave me a bitter smile then looked down to his feet. My chest felt weighed down as I awaited his response.

  "I'm afraid we have moved beyond that," he said quietly before looking back up. "I cannot hide anymore. I've done what I can, but nothing will stop this. Now we have to fight, or they will keep on coming."

  Fear gripped me. "No. Please don't. My brothers are in the army. They have to do what my father says. They are only fifteen and sixteen. I can't lose them, Vasuki. I've already lost my mother to a terrible curse."

  "Nyre is only sixteen. They hurt her."

  I nodded my head. "They did. I hate that they did, but they did. The man that shot her is the same man who is making my father send the army up here. He wants to kill you all, but my father doesn't. Not really. Jacob is putting him in an impossible situation."

  "But your father is in charge," Vasuki pointed out. "He is the king, is he not? Who is this man who thinks he is above the king?"

  I shook my head. Jacob was a nobody. "Before a few weeks ago, he was just one of my father's men. My father ordered him to build a wall at the base of the mountain to stop people coming up here. Jacob made it clear that he didn't like it. While my father was trying to find doctors and deal with a stupid competition, Jacob managed to persuade many people that you all need to die. My father's hands are tied. He doesn't want to hurt you. He knows you are shifters, but he has thousands of people coming for this competition, and he's been brainwashed into thinking that the dragons will hurt everyone."

  "Then tell him we won't. I have no desire to send my dragons down the mountain to disrupt your human events."

  I sighed. "I know that, but my father will no longer listen to me. When Nyre was seen carrying me, Jacob told everyone that I was being abducted. Now, more people are listening to him than my father, and my father is trying to do too much. He's not slept properly in weeks, and his own health is fading. Why can't you just send all your dragons to your village for a few days until this all blows over? It's not accessible by foot. You'll all be safe, and the worst that will happen to my father's men is that they will spend a day getting cold on the top of the mountain. They'll soon stop listening to Jacob after that."

  Vasuki brought his hand to his mouth and chewed on his thumbnail. He paced around me, deep in thought.

  "I cannot think of a way around this, Azia," he said. "I've told you that your magic draws us to you, and every fiber in my being wants to do what you say. I'm almost compelled to do your bidding, the magic is that strong, but I cannot take all the dragons down to the village. Dragon eggs are laid i
n nests like this one for a reason. The baby dragons need the high altitude to grow and to hatch. If we take the eggs down, many will not hatch. I cannot ask the mothers to leave their eggs, and I cannot ask them to bring them down to the village. In hiding, my people will be killed just the same as if we fight. I have no desire to fight, but I do not have a choice. Please don't force me to leave them."

  Don't force him to. I knew my bond with them was strong, but I didn't understand how much until now. I could make them flee, but then the deaths of their babies would be all on me.

  He pleaded with me with his eyes. This wasn't the same strong Vasuki I knew. This was a man in an impossible position...just like my father.

  "I've made so many mistakes in the past few weeks," I said, thinking of Milo and the competition, which was ultimately the reason my father was sending his men up in the first place. "I'm not about to make another. I will not force you to move the eggs, and I will not force you to not fight."

  The relief on his face was obvious. He breathed out a sigh.

  "I cannot let you fight alone, though. Take me back down the mountain, please."

  He regarded me suspiciously. "Why? What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to get dressed in something better than this," I said, indicating my dress. "It's freezing up here."

  Vasuki transformed back into the magnificent beast he was, and this time, waited for me to climb up onto his back before he flew me down the mountain. In the distance, my father's men were already beginning the climb. After dropping me at the bottom, Vasuki opened his wings once more and took off into the sky, presumably, to round up the other dragons. I couldn't use my magic to stop him fighting now that I knew what was at stake, but there was a lot at stake on my side too. My father was going up there and no doubt Hollis and Ash too. At least Milo had left us. It was the only consolation in him leaving. I wouldn't have to worry about him being blasted by dragon fire.

  I raced back into the castle and up to my room. Jack stood guard alone on the corridor. My heart skipped when I thought of how weird it was that Milo wasn't there helping, but I had more urgent things to deal with to be mooching over a broken heart. In my room, I pulled on some warm trousers and a tunic, which I covered in the leather armor that Milo had brought for me back when we'd both started practicing swordsmanship. Picking up the dragon sword, I raced back out of the room as quickly as I could so Jack wouldn't have time to stop me. The castle bustled with people caught up in last-minute problems associated with the competition. No one paid me any mind as I dashed through, my sword by my side.

  I had no idea how the men had managed to get over the wall, but I needed help to get over it. A pair of ladders that had been left behind in the fall were still in the garden, so I took them and managed to get over the wall that way.

  The men had a huge head start on me, but I'd climbed this mountain before, and I had something they didn't. I had the lives of the dragons to save. I didn't know how I could stop this. I was winging it in the worst possible way, but I couldn't sit in my room watching people I loved go out to fight with other people I loved. I knew I needed to be there, I just didn't know what to do when I got there.

  To my left, I could just about see the men in the distance. Their guard uniforms stood out against the white snow and gray stone. Once we were further up, the redness of the rock would camouflage them. I planned to be ahead of them by that point.

  My lungs burned, and my muscles ached with the effort of climbing the mountain, but thoughts of what would happen if I didn't spurred me on. My half-assed idea was to wait until my father got to the top and position myself between him and his men, and the dragons. Would it stop either side? I didn't know. My father wouldn't attack if he knew I would get hurt, but Jacob would fell me himself if it meant killing dragons.

  Minutes turned into hours and exhaustion began to kick in, but a quick glance to my left told me I was in the lead. Pushing past the fatigue was hard, but I was so close to the top, I could see it. The dragons were already there, lined up along the craggy top. All of them perched along the mountain, waiting for the onslaught. None of them took to the skies, but as I moved closer, I could see Darius itching to be off. If only I could pit Darius against Jacob and leave the pair of them to it, then I'd be fine. Unfortunately for everyone else involved, I had no say in the matter.

  The snow-covered rocks made climbing hard as I edged around the mountain. One by one, the dragons glanced my way before settling their eyes back on my father's army of men.

  At the very front, my father led the group, closely followed by Jacob, who was the only one of the men to hold his sword out, ready for attack. When they were within about fifty feet of the dragons, my father came to a stop and held his hand to the side to stop Jacob or any of the others from running past him.

  I could see, even from the distance between us, the indecision in his eyes. He didn't want to do this anymore than I wanted him to. He was doing it because, in the past few weeks, the kingdom had fallen through the cracks, and though he knew they wanted a strong leader, he was not able to be one. The man had barely slept, and I'd not seen him at any meals for days. It was a miracle he was still standing, let alone able to climb a mountain leading a hundred men into battle. He was doing it because this was what people like Jacob needed to see. But in doing so, it meant Jacob got his way, and Jacob's way meant the destruction of a whole colony of Dragon shifters. I don't know what he had against dragons. He had no family hurt when the dragons came down the mountain and killed some of my father's men. Perhaps some of his friends had died, and he wanted retaliation. Maybe he wanted to steal dragon eggs to make some money. Maybe he just wanted to fight for the sake of it because that's what people like Jacob liked to do. I didn't know. I saw what was about to happen with absolute clarity. Both sides lined up ready to attack. The men with their swords, the dragons with their hot fiery breath. Not even running between them would stop them. Not with the likes of Jacob involved. But then, I knew what I had to do. Vasuki had told me that I could command him with my magic. I could compel him to do anything like some sort of dragon tamer, and if I pushed my magic hard enough, he would have to do it whether or not he liked it. I didn't want to force him to do anything, and I hoped it wouldn't come to it as I reached out to him with my magic. Before, I'd been throwing it out willy-nilly, and the dragons had come to me, urged on by the bright lights my magic produced. This time, I concentrated my magic on Vasuki alone. He cocked his head to one side and looked at me questioningly. He understood what I wanted without me telling him. This wasn't telepathy. I wasn't speaking to him in my mind. It was almost as though I was a part of him, and he was a part of me. I'd finally gotten my magic to work the way it was supposed to. I nodded my head at him, giving the explicit yes he needed. He crouched lower then pushed hard, unfurling his magnificent wings and taking to the sky. The men watched as he circled then fell into a dive. My father didn't have a chance. He'd not even had the time to pull his sword from his sheath.

  Vasuki had him gripped between his teeth rather than in his claws. I winced at the thought of how uncomfortable it must have been, and how sooty Vasuki's breath was, but my father was wearing leather armor and would survive. If I played this right, everyone would. Vasuki turned mid-air and dived for me. He whisked us both to a nest away from my father's men. Behind him, another dragon sat. This one was bright yellow with orange-tipped wings. Vasuki shifted into his human form.

  My father knew he was a shifter, but it didn't stop the look of astonishment on his face when Vasuki held his hand out for my father to shake.

  My father stood still, his hands firmly by his side, wary of the shifter before him.

  "This is Vasuki, Father," I explained." He is the king of the dragons. You would never listen to me when I told you that they don't want to fight, but maybe you'll listen to him."

  "The dragon behind me is Kuda," Vasuki said, indicating the dragon. It watched us with frightened eyes. "Kuda was very young, sitting on her first ba
tch of eggs eighteen years ago when some men stole into her nest. Not only did they steal her eggs, they also killed the hatchlings. Her babies would be the same age as Azia now, give or take a few months. Kuda never dared lay eggs after that. The thought of men coming and killing her babies stopped her. This year, she finally found the courage to lay again. You can't see them, but under her are five dragon eggs. They may be priceless artifacts to you, but to a grieving mother, they are her whole life. Kuda isn't the only dragon nesting. There are more. I do not want to hurt you or your men. I never did, but you understand that I will do what I have to do to keep them safe."

  My father stood stock still; indecision plastered all over his face. I felt sorry for him. There was no winning here. He wasn't a bad person, and he could no more take those eggs from Kuda than I could.

  "You don't understand." He turned to me. "Azia, you don't know what's been going on. Jacob has been organizing an uprising. If I don't let him fight the dragons, he will bring an army of his own to help him. Why do you think he is on the panel of judges at your competition? I ignored what was happening for so long because I was worried about your mother, about you." He turned back to Vasuki again. "I want no bloodshed. My sons are down there as are men that are far braver than me. They are waiting for my order to attack. If I don't give it, Jacob will."

  "Then I can't help you. I will fly you back down to your men. When you give the order, they will attack us. At that point, I cannot stop my dragons from defending themselves. You might have swords, but we have the advantage of fire and height. You cannot win this."

  "I know," my father said despondently. "I'm sorry it has come to this. I tried. I really did. I built a wall."

  "No!" I screamed. "Father, you are signing a death wish. What about Ash and Hollis. What about me?"

  "Ash and Hollis knew what they were doing when they came up the mountain. You can stay here. You will be safe. Maybe Kuda and her eggs will be safe too."

  "You can't do this!" I screamed. I'd lost my mother, I was about to lose my brothers, and I'd lost the man I looked up to. The man I respected.