Ashes And Spirit (Book 3) (38 page)

Maleena reached for the saddle and froze.
Emmaleen.
She could sense her. Grandme must have made it inside the walls. Turning, she searched the buildings around her for the source. There. Her heart sank. Little was left to call a structure of any kind.

“Nydara!”
She bolted for the pile of broken stone and wood.
“Emmaleen is buried!”

“Mckale and Tellnox come,”
Nydara returned.

Maleena reached the pile and started digging. The roaring of the erupting volcano covered any sounds, but she knew without a doubt her child was there. Her fingernails broke off as she clawed her way through. She grabbed the edge of a block and heaved with everything she had. Even with her dragon-bond strength, there was no moving it.

Mckale grabbed her upper arms and pulled her away. She fought him. “She’s in there!”

“I don’t doubt you, but you can’t move those blocks. Give me a minute,” he shouted over the roar.

“Nydara and Tellnox can move them.”

“They have the strength, but if something shifts wrong it could crush her.”

Maleena subsided. She hadn’t thought of that. The deserted street caught her attention. “Where are all of the Kojen and Shadow Riders?” she called out.

“They Jumped as soon as the volcano erupted. Brock and Serena are getting as many people out of Taragen as they can.”

“Serena?”

“She showed up just a few moments ago with reinforcements. They’re taking care of the Kojen and mages that didn’t make it to a Jump.”

Mckale placed his hands on the rock and closed his eyes. It slowly changed and flowed away into the street, taking timbers and boards with it until several huddled, bloodied, and dust-covered forms were visible. Maleena froze, her heart racing in terror. A wash of anguish from Mckale rushed over her. Maleena grabbed his arm.

One of the huddled forms was Grandme, her broken body wrapped protectively over Emmaleen.

Mckale lifted the crying babe from the rubble. Maleena took her, cradling her close while Mckale turned back. With gentle care, he lifted Grandme and carried her quickly across the street to where Tellnox and Nydara waited.

Maleena coughed and hurried after him with Emmaleen clutched tightly in her arms. The ash was so thick she could barely see him as he climbed on Tellnox while maintaining his hold on his grandmother. Maleena shifted Emmaleen to one arm and pulled herself into the saddle with the other. She only managed one safety strap before Nydara launched into the murky air. It was almost as dark as night. Maleena’s nose and throat burned causing her to cough more. She wrapped her cloak over Emmaleen hoping to shield her from the ash.

The rumbling from the mountain grew louder. As Nydara gained altitude, it quickly became apparent that the noise wasn’t just from the eruption. The Blood River raged well above its banks in a tsunami of trees, mud, and pieces of houses. The plain between Taragen and the river was completely inundated. Mckale’s home village, along with the other three villages that had spread out along it, were gone. The city of Gateway across the river was also washed away. Only raging, muddy water flowed where it had once stood.

With a breaking heart, the knowledge that Arella and Blaine were lost hit her. Maleena bowed her head and shook with sobs for the two horses as she held Emmaleen tighter. Arella, who had brought her through the lake of the dead to Galdrilene, who had continued to carry her despite the horse’s advancing age, now lay buried under muddy water and ash. The memory of Arella’s soft gray muzzle and large dark eyes filled her mind, and her chest ached with the pain of the loss. Heavy guilt hung over her at weeping for a horse when so many people were dead, but Arella had been there for her when no people were.

Through eyes blurred with ash and tears, she watched the city of Taragen burn with uncontrolled green flames. Even that would likely be smothered by the ash before too long.

“Yarnns Bend is gone. A cloud of ash and fumes rushed down out of the volcano and across both the north and east mother rivers. It destroyed and killed everything in its path. It went only a few miles north of Taragen,”
Nydara sent.
“It was terrifying to see.”

Maleena sensed the sadness in her dragon and tried sending soothing thoughts to Nydara but failed. Though she had no idea what became of the border towns it was easy to guess. In the face of so much devastation, she could find no shred of soothing calm within herself to send.

Calladar was no more.

Maleena hugged Emmaleen close as Nydara opened a Slide. Then they were soaring over Galdrilene.

The younger dragons in the caldera bugled a welcome, and several people poured out of the Dragon Hold. Nydara answered their call, happy to see her youngest children safe and sound in Galdrilene.

Worry nagged at Maleena. Farynn had failed to answer Nydara’s repeated sendings. The red and her rider would have been too close when they lost the fight for the volcano. In all likelihood the Guardians had lost another pair, lost more family members. It was another point of grief that weighed heavy on her heart. They would begin the search as soon as the Calladarans they had managed to save were settled in Markene.

As the silver glided in to land, Maleena shoved her grief down and buried it under the needs of the here and now.

Nydara took extra care to land smoothly. With Maleena held in the saddle by only a single safety strap, and Emmaleen in her arms, she didn’t want to take any chances with either of them. She furled her wings and eased down on her belly, extending her front leg for her rider.

Maleena coughed more ash and grit from her throat as Marda and the newer riders rushed to them. It was clear from their faces that the younger dragons had kept them appraised of the situation on the border. Relief and worry filled their faces. Toren jumped up on Nydara’s leg and reached for Emmaleen. Maleena handed the babe to him and unbuckled the single safety strap.

Toren lowered Emmaleen into Marda’s waiting arms. “Oh my sweet little thing, come to Marda.” She snuggled the ash-and-dust-coated baby close to her large bosom and glanced up at Maleena. “If it’s all right, I will get her bathed and into clean clothing.”

Exhausted, Maleena nodded as she took Toren’s helping hand and slid from the saddle. Without Mckale there and sapped of mental strength, Toren’s emotions bombarded her, but it was either accept his assistance or fall flat on her face. She rubbed at her eyes; the insides of the lids felt like they were coated in sand.

Gideon grabbed her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist to help her off Nydara’s leg. The well-trained healer’s touch was a relief. Though his emotions were still there, they were much quieter and held in tight control. Leaning heavily on him, she started for the inner terrace before coughing and doubling over. A large glob of black mucous flew from her throat and onto the grass at her feet.

Gideon held her steady until it subsided then the familiar warmth of Healing magic spread through her, settling in her lungs before spreading to the cuts and bruises that marred her skin and then finally to her eyes. “You’re going to have another coughing fit in a moment,” Gideon said. “Healing has broken everything loose in there before it can settle and cause any issues. All of that has to come up now.”

Maleena nodded just as the need to cough hit her hard. Her chest ached as it racked her body and mouthfuls of ash-darkened mucous came up. She shuddered, gagged, and started coughing again. And then, as abruptly as it began, it stopped.

After several experimental breaths, she straightened and brushed her hair back from her face. A puff of dust and ash rose in the air. Gideon waved his hand in front of his face dispersing it. “Why don’t you take a bath now. You’re even more of a mess than Emmaleen.”

She shook her head and placed her hand on his arm. “Will you please check over Emmaleen and make sure her lungs aren’t full?”

“Of course.”

“Please hurry. I think most of the people of Calladar are going to need help, and I would like to take a group of healers back with me. There are quite a few that will need more extensive healing. I know Serena, Nolan, and Nira are there, but they will exhaust themselves trying to heal the numbers that need it.”

“Give me a moment to check Emmaleen and gather the tower. It won’t take long.”

Though weariness still weighed her down, she climbed on Nydara’s leg and hauled herself into the saddle. Within moments, Gideon returned. “I cleared Emmaleen’s lungs. They were nearly as bad as yours.”

Maleena breathed a sigh of relief and held her impatience to return to Mckale. It wasn’t long before most of the Tower of Healing came running into the caldera out of breath and faces flushed. There was no time to allow them to rest after the long dash through the city and up the massive stairway to the Dragon Hold.

Nydara lifted off and the image formed in the silver’s mind of the wide field in Markene that Tellnox sent where they had taken the refugees. The dragon opened a Slide all the way to the ground. A minute later they were in Markene, surrounded by an overwhelming amount of wounded.

Many of the New Sharren and Shaderians who had been moved here during the battle were mixed into the field, doing their best to help address the wounds while they waited for the healers.

Serena rose unsteadily to her feet and walked with quick strides to the next severely injured person as Nydara landed. Not far from her, Nira closed the eyes of a woman who hadn’t been reached in time. Nolan remained steady, eyes closed as he worked on a Shaderian. Gideon and the rest of the healers who came through the Slide fanned out; there was no shortage of those who needed them.

Maleena yanked the safety straps loose and leaped from the saddle. It only took her a moment to locate Mckale and race through the field littered with injured and blood. He knelt in the trampled grass with Grandme still in his arms. Serena wasn’t far behind her. Maleena dropped to her knees next to him.

Grandme opened one eye, the other completely swollen shut. Bruises and lacerations covered most of her face and body. “Emmaleen?” she whispered.

Maleena smoothed the old woman’s hair back. Her hand came away wet with blood. “She is fine and in Galdrilene now.”

Grandme smiled and sighed. “I told you I would always keep her safe.”

She coughed and groaned as Serena arrived and reached for her. Her hands barely touched Grandme when the old woman let out a final sigh and went limp. Serena pulled her hands back. “I’m so sorry, Mckale.”

Mckale didn’t respond, he just stared down at the woman who had raised him. Though his face remained expressionless, tears glistened in his eyes. Serena stood and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze before she turned to find the next person she could help. Though her eyes were dry and her attention already focused elsewhere, Maleena sensed the grief in her at not being able to save everyone.

Anguish rolled off Mckale. Maleena sensed his need for space and remained quietly by his side, not reaching out or trying to comfort him. Her own heart was breaking for her bondmate and for herself. Grandme had been family to her as well. Tears fell silently down Maleena’s cheeks making tracks through the light coating of ash. They stayed like that for a long time. It wasn’t until Mckale finally laid Grandme down and carefully arranged her arms and clothes that Maleena spoke. “Where is the rest of your family?”

He stood and swept the large field crowded with New Sharrens, Calladarans, and Shaderians. “I have no idea. I don’t know if Sonja was one of the dead in that collapsed building. I don’t know if Kaden was one of those killed on the wall. Or what has become of my father or—” he broke off in a cough.

Maleena waved one of the healers over. “Let them heal you, and I will help you look for them as soon as I return.”

“Return?”

“Are you ignoring Tellnox? Belynn and Farynn are missing and not answering calls to them.”

Another cough wracked him as a healer laid his hands on him. “I will go with you to search.”

“What about your family?”

Mckale shook his head and leveled a looked at her. “Belynn and Farynn are my family too. If my father and siblings are here then they are safe. If not, there isn’t anything I can do for them. Taragen is buried already.” He rubbed his hands over his face, smearing the gray coating on his skin. “Belynn and Farynn are Fates know where.”