Phoenix (3 page)

The dragon woman turns to me with a slightly startled look, as though she’d forgotten I was there.

So quickly.

But she smiles a polite smile, showing off her perfectly-matched white teeth, which brighten her face and make her look, if possible, even more enchanting. “My name is Nia.” She speaks loudly enough for my brother to hear, and turns her head in his direction.

“Nia.” Ram hurries toward her, grasps her hand, and bows. I’m not kidding. He bows and looks up at her with this imploring expression that makes me wish I’d slugged him more often when we were young. “What a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ram.”

“Ram,” she repeats, trying out the name, smiling at the sound of it on her lips.

She did not try out my name.

So, now what? Ultimately, I want to propose to the girl, but it seems soon for that, especially since we don’t know why she was working for Eudora, or if she’s only talking to us because she plans to turn us over to our old arch-enemy or possibly murder us on the spot and cart off our carcasses like a prize.

While I’m puzzling over what to say next, the woman speaks. “You are dragons—are there more like you?”

“We have three sisters,” my brother informs her.

“And parents. And a grandfather,” I add, though Nia is still looking at Ram, and not at me.

An expression like hope fills her face. “Are you from China?”

“China?” I repeat, confused.

“No, Azerbaijan,” Ram answers, while I’m wondering what could have possibly caused her to think we’re Chinese. We’re clearly Azeri. We look Persian, Turkic, whatever you want to call it. Other than the Scottish blood we inherited from my grandmother, which makes my hair a deep auburn color and splashed a riot of freckles across my tanned nose, we’re all classically dark-haired and olive-skinned. I don’t think even the dark of the night could make us look Chinese.

I grasp at the only reason for her question that I can think of. “Do you know of dragons in China?”

Nia turns my way and gives a hesitant half nod. “I’ve heard…there may be.”

“I’ve heard the same.” Ram confirms.

He’s actually gone to China in search of more dragons, long journeys that occupied most of the last two summers. That vast, populous land is full of legends, and the people revere, even worship, dragons, so it would make sense that, of all the places in the world where dragons might remain, China would be a top contender. But Ram never found any dragons there.

Nia’s smile grows. “I’ve been searching for dragons for many long years. I’d almost given up hope of finding any.”

“Are there more in your family?” I ask when she pauses. There’s every possibility she has a sister, after all.

But Nia shakes her head. “I have always been alone.”

The sadness in her voice quiets any further questions I might be tempted to ask.

“Would you like to meet our family?” Ram asks.

I feel a twinge of jealousy that he thought to make the offer before I could, but instead of looking excited by the prospect, Nia looks…afraid. Maybe even horrified, though I can’t imagine why.

She glances over her shoulders into the darkness. The rocks jut upward at harsh angles, deeply shadowed by the meager light of the moon and stars, an unnatural landscape that might well hide equally unnatural enemies. “I don’t want to endanger you.”

“Endanger?” I repeat when she falls silent.

Regret fills her lovely face. “I have been searching for other dragons for many long years. I grew desperate and followed the only trail I could find. In exchange for information, I…” Nia shakes her head. “It wasn’t even good information.”

Her words are cryptic, but knowing what we know of the dragon world and its enemies, I can read between the lines. We know from the spies’ video footage that she was working for Eudora, who has been trying for decades to destroy all dragons. “Are you afraid of Eudora?” I ask.

“Eudora?” Nia repeats the name as if it’s new to her. “Is that the white witch? Who lives in the ice castle in the mountains?”

My brother explains, “Eudora created the yagi, the dragon hunters.”

“The mamluki?” Nia clarifies. “It means mercenary in Swahili.”

“Mamluki,” I repeat, nodding. Her name for them fits them quite well. “Yes, Eudora created the mamluki to destroy dragons.”

“The mamluki have been hunting me for many years,” Nia explains. “I followed them to this place and found the white witch. I thought—” she shakes her head regretfully again. “I hoped to find other dragons. I have been seeking them my whole life. The white witch claims to know of more dragons. She promised me information, but has given me little.”

Ram nods solemnly. “Did she tell you there might be dragons in China?”

“In China, and on an island near Fiji. But she won’t give me specific information, and she has baited the mamluki with my scent.”

“Baited?” I’m immediately concerned. The yagi, or mamluki, or whatever you want to call them, were bred for the purpose of hunting and killing dragons. They’re soulless creatures, part cockroach, part mercenary soldier. They killed my grandmother. They’re dangerous enough without specifically targeting someone.

“The mamluki use scent to track their prey,” Nia explains. “The white witch controls them by scent, which is why they don’t attack her. I am safe from them as long as I continue to work for her, but if I try to escape, she will send them after me. It has happened before. I only survived because I returned to her. It would be a danger to your family to meet me. Indeed, it is a danger to you, talking to me now. I should return to my cave.”

“But we just met—” I protest.

Ram cuts in. “We can help you. We can protect you from the mamluki. We know how to fight them.”

Nia looks at him with hesitant hope. She wants to believe him, but she knows too well the merciless enemies who hunt her. “If I return to my cave now, she may not realize I have met with you. I can meet with you again, in secret. She doesn’t need to know. I have some freedom as long as I don’t stray far.”

Before Nia has even finished her sentence, a massive boom rocks the air all around us. The three of us duck instinctively, and both Ram and I throw our arms over Nia’s shoulders. I peek behind us in time to see the sky lit up with orange and purple, and a billow of smoke not unlike an atomic mushroom cloud.

It came from the direction of the lake. And Nia’s cave.

CHAPTER THREE

I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep this secret from Eudora. But that concern is dwarfed by the violence of the explosion behind us. Our family was near the lake and the cave, somewhere. Are they okay?

“What was that?” Nia asks as we cautiously rise to standing again.

“I hope that was Ed, destroying the source of the water yagi.” Ram’s expression is grim. He glances at me. “Do you think we should get back there?”

“I think we need to make sure everyone’s okay. That was a big explosion.” I withdraw my hand from over Nia’s shoulder, taking care not to infringe on her personal space. She seems skittish. I don’t want to do anything that might prompt her to flee.

“We need to be careful.” Ram turns to Nia. “I’d like you to come with us.”

Nia shakes her head. “The mamluki—”

“We know how to fight them. They hunt us, too.”

“But she’ll send them after us—all of them, pursuing us. It’s not the same as being hunted. They know my scent. She will set them after me.” Nia glances at the sky as though weighing a decision. Is she going to leave us in hopes of leading the yagi away from us?

I don’t want her to try. “Nia? You said you’ve been looking for other dragons for many long years. We’ve been looking, too. We’ve finally found you. Please stay with us.”

“I won’t endanger you.” She refuses bluntly.

“We endanger ourselves,” Ram insists. “We came here. We caused that explosion. I don’t think you’ll be able to hide any longer. You must stay with us.”

Ram reaches for her hand. I want to warn him that Nia is already nervous enough, that he shouldn’t push her, but Nia doesn’t seem to need my help.

She takes a step back from Ram and looks at him steadily, her hands now beyond his reach. Technically, she’s a bit shorter than he is—he’s well over six feet tall—but something about her regal posture and the tilt of her head makes it almost seem as though she’s looking down at him. She has an inherent dignity that holds my gaze. She owns whatever space she occupies, and right now, she’s ordering Ram out of that space without saying a word.

Nia obviously doesn’t care for my brother’s bossy approach. Fortunately, I learned how to wheedle from an early age. It’s a technique that requires more humility than most dragons are willing to exhibit, but right now, it may be my best hope for keeping Nia from flying away.

“Please, Nia. We’re more afraid of losing you than of facing the mamluki.”

“You don’t understand,” Nia’s voice is strained. There’s something under her words—a barely-suppressed grief, I think. She chokes past it, covers it with something more like anger. “I am a harbinger of death. The longer you are in my presence, the more certain your demise.”

Ram and I exchange glances. Some girls have a flair for the dramatic, but I don’t think that’s what Nia’s up to right now. Ram’s face says he wonders if there isn’t more to Nia’s claims.

“We are strong and valiant fighters,” Ram asserts. “We’ve tangled with yagi before, many times. They are troublesome, yes. A menace—”

“I will tell you,” Nia cuts Ram’s speech short. “There was another dragon.”

Nia has our full attention now, though her words sound strangled. “I only consented to work for Eudora in exchange for information about other dragons. That was the agreement. She told me where a dragon might be found. I traveled there. Found her.”

“Her?” I repeat, partly in hope and surprise, and partly because Nia’s voice is so strained I can’t be certain I heard her correctly—and this is one point in which I cannot endure any uncertainty.

“Yes. Her. She—she was an ancient dragon, injured long ago in the battles against the dragons. She lived alone, betrayed by her people, unable to fly after she lost an arm and a wing. I found her and I rejoiced that I was no longer alone, but hardly had she told me of her past than the mamluki caught up to me, trained on my scent. I fought—I fought to defend us both. It was not enough. They swarmed us. Killed her. Drove me back to the white witch.”

Nia looks at us, her eyes imploring. “They are baited by my scent. I will not watch another dragon die because of me.”

I sense she’s about to leave, but even as I’m wondering what I could possibly do to compel her to stay with us, another eruption pierces the night sky, this time shooting fire straight upward into the night. As we stare at the violent burst, a shockwave reverberates outward. Its concussion trembles through the air. As it moves past us, I feel its force.

Nia moans. “That came from the cave. I must turn myself over to the white witch again.”

“No.” Ram uses his tone of voice that no one ever argues with—the tone that seems to carry all the authority of a fire-breathing dragon, even when he’s in human form.

I’ve never figured out how to get my voice to do that. I explain, “Our family was near there. We’ve got to make sure they’re okay.” To my chagrin, my words are tinged with something like a whimper.

But neither Ram nor Nia appear to be paying me much attention. Nia moves to step free of us, but Ram takes hold of her arm, restraining her.

“What would you gain by turning yourself over to her?” Ram asks.

“Life. Not just mine. If she sends the mamluki—”

“We will fight them. We are not old and injured.”

“You cannot win.”

“We have before. We will again.”

“But when she sets them after me en masse, there is no fighting them off. It is a danger to all of us the longer I stay here. They may already be on their way.”

Ram turns to me now. “Felix, go back to the cabin, make sure everyone’s okay, and fetch our weapons. You can catch up to us—”

“I’m not going with you,” Nia protests. She doesn’t appear to be fighting against Ram’s hold on her wrist—probably because she’s guessed, rightly so, that Ram is stronger than she is. She’ll have to talk her way free.

Ram ignores her protest and continues addressing me. “We passed an abandoned outpost the other day on our journey to the spy cabin. It’s perhaps forty or fifty miles to the southwest, along the route we traveled.”

“I remember. I can find it again.”

“Meet us there.”

I nod in agreement with Ram’s plan, though everything inside me is protesting the idea. I don’t want Ram flying off with Nia. He’ll woo her and win her before I return with the swords. I’ll lose whatever advantage I had, which wasn’t much.

But what else is there? If I argue with him, he’ll only bully me into getting his way (he’s done that countless times before) and I’ll look weak in front of Nia. I can’t risk that.

Even more than that, though, I’m concerned about our family. That explosion was far too close to the cave, the lake, and the cabin. They may need my help.

I linger, waiting to be sure Nia will go with Ram, that he doesn’t need my support to prevent her from eluding us. Waiting…because there’s a noise, drawing louder, a wailing sort of sound that strikes my bones and threatens to lock them into place.

Yagi.

I’ve faced them before. I know their defenses well. Armor-like exoskeletons, venomous barbs, rapier-like antennae, and—most unnerving of all—their paralysis-inducing wails, by which they freeze their prey before they pounce.

The only way to keep from being frozen in place, bones locked in rigid stiffness, is to keep moving.

Which means I can’t wait around any longer. “I’ll meet you at the outpost,” I promise my brother as I leap into the air, morphing into dragon form as a horde of yagi swarm to the spot where I stood seconds before. I glimpse Ram and Nia taking off in the other direction, but my eyes are on the yagi.

I’ve never seen so many yagi in one place before. There must be dozens of them.

Nia said they were drawn to her, trained on her scent, that Eudora would send them after her if she tried to flee. Not that I didn’t believe her, but seeing them streaming toward her in a swarm like so many man-sized roaches….