1. Firion

Chapter 1

Firion

W eeks ago, I’d left my city, soaring off our suspended island and through the sky on the back of my ryvar, Perrin. It would be a long, lonely journey, but my mission was vital not only to my Dastalon Clan, but all the other clans in the area.

In my pouch strapped to Perrin, I held the treaty I’d present to the king of the Veerenad city. If he accepted our offer, we’d grant the lizard people more land to expand their homes and in exchange, we’d receive precious goods only they could provide.

It took days to cross the vast forests, stopping only to spend my nights on the ground. Eventually, the forest gave way to scruffy brush and then the desert, and I swept my ryvar out over it. The lizard city lay to the north, and it would take many days to reach it.

The sun beat down on my back, making my blood feel like it boiled. Sweat leaked down my spine. I itched and shifted in my seat, grateful that flight, if nothing else, provided a breeze.

Below me and stretching on as far as my eye could see in every direction, dunes rolled like ocean waves, shadows etched into their contours. The sand shimmered in the sunlight, a smooth wasteland broken only by intricate patterns, mostly tiny footprints left behind by unseen creatures traveling at night, the only time they dared venture above the ground.

If I didn’t need to see the distant lavender mountains to guide me, I, too, would only travel at night when the sun no longer cooked the air, and the night breezes might cool me. As it was, I only flew Perrin for a few hours at dawn and dusk to preserve his strength while still gaining distance. We rested during the heat of the day.

I’d stopped at an oasis the day before and filled my flasks, and I hefted one, carefully undoing the top and placing the edge against my mouth before I upended it. Each drop was more precious than a breath, and I’d do anything not to spill this liquid, the only thing standing between me and death.

The wind carried a dry, almost metallic scent, broken only by a rare bit of sweetness from the few flowers blooming on spiky vegetation peppering the landscape.

Far in the distance, dust spiraled into a whirlwind. Something big traveled there. I’d need to sleep with one eye open tonight to make sure whatever it was didn’t catch my scent and track me.

It was hard to believe the lizard people had chosen such a inhospitable place to build their city, though they lived on the northern edge of the desert. Long ago, the Veerenad ship crashed in the desert, and instead of finding a way to leave my planet, they settled, constructing homes and finding a new way to live. They’d left us Zuldruxians alone, and we ignored them until a few rogue packs of Veerenads attacked the Zuldruxian clans living in their area. Their traedor had come to us and suggested we form a truce with conditions regarding behavior. If they kept the peace, so would we.

Hence why I, a traedor myself, was making this journey. Their king indicated he’d only respect speaking to someone his equal. If I was in luck, I’d wrap the deal up quickly and could turn Perrin and fly home with everything we needed.

As the sun started to edge toward the distant horizon, it got harder to see. Time to look for a likely place to land and set up camp for the night. I’d continue my journey before dawn, and I should arrive at the Veerenad city a few days after that.

I’d hoped to find another oasis to rest in tonight, but that didn’t appear to be the case. A dry camp, but it did no good to grumble. Oases appeared seemingly at their whim or held themselves back even if they felt we had need.

I guided Perrin lower, his wings flapping hard and driving sand up from the surface. It choked my throat and brought out my cough, and it coated my skin in a gritty wave. Even after I’d bathed in the sea at least ten times on my return to my clan, I doubted I’d ever get that coarse feeling out of every crevice in my skin.

There. I spied a rocky outcropping, a good place to spend the night. I could build a fire with downed branches from the spiky plants speckling this wasteland and put my back to the rocks. At least nothing would be able to attack me from the front. Perrin would keep watch while I slept, but he needed to drink and eat too. He’d leave me as soon as I dismounted, returning after he’d found an oasis and took in his fill and prey to satisfy his hunger. If only I could speak to him, ask him to take me to the oasis instead of leaving me to find those infrequent spots on my own. But as loyal and affectionate as my ryvar was, we couldn’t communicate outside of a few simple hand and foot gestures.

I guided him to the outcropping, and he pulled up, extending his clawed hind feet to land. A slight jar, and he settled on the ground, his claws sinking into the sand and his wings tucking into his sides. I slid off his back and released the harness holding my various packs, before going around to his front to stroke his long, deep purple beak.

He huffed and nudged my belly, and I grinned and gave him a good rubdown. He adored when I scratched beneath his chin and chest, so I took time to give him extra attention in those areas.

As I groomed him all over, I inspected his feathers to make sure they didn’t show wear. If they did, I’d have to remain here for a time to allow him to replace the old with new. Fortunately, he appeared fine.

He towered over me, at least three times my height, and I was a tall male for my species. At my urging, he dropped to his belly on the ground, and I finished looking over the feathers along his back and his long-feathered tail.

I tugged small bits of dried meat from my pack and started eating as I patted him some more, before I nudged his side.

“Go. Have a safe flight. Return for me in the morning.”

He cocked his head, his beady eye on this side narrowing in on me, before he took flight, soaring up into the sky with way more vigor than me. I’d ridden on his back all day while he’d done the hard work. Yet this creature held more energy in his hollow bones than I did even if I’d spent a day lounging in a cool pool, eating my fill and slaking my endless thirst with cold water.

I watched until he’d flown out of view, then scurried around, collecting downed spiked plant limbs, piling them near the cluster of rocks. When night fell in this part of the world, it did so all at once, the sun sucking the warmth from the air and leaving only a desolate, cold loneliness behind.

Not that my feelings were much different even when I was surrounded by my clan. As traedor, I was treated with the respect I’d earned, but it was rare for anyone to invite me to join them for a meal or a chat. I was seen as the serious leader, not one of their friends who might enjoy sitting and sharing a carafe of drink and a tale or two .

I had no mate, and I expected that was how it was always going to be.

My brother was incredibly lucky. He’d been gifted with a precious woman, and it made my chest ache to see them so happy together. I didn’t feel pain because I wanted her; I felt pain because I worried it would never be my time to find love.

With so few females, and me having met every one in my clan and those in the others without a spark firing in my heart, the odds of me bonding with a mate remained slim.

Unless my clan gods, those of stone, sent a mate to me.

I tipped my head back and peered up at the vast, dark sky. Cloud cover hid the stars and our moons, though muted light filtered through the mistiness, giving the sand around me a lavender glow.

Once I’d lit my fire, I sat with my feet outstretched toward it and the rocks at my back. They dug into my spine, but at least I wouldn’t need to peer in that direction to watch for threats. No, whatever attacked would have to charge at me from the front or my sides, and I could slash out with my stone weapon strapped to my side within seconds.

I tugged one of my packs closer and lifted it, dropping it onto my thighs. After opening the top, I pulled out one of the wrapped pouches of dried meat I’d nibbled on earlier. I chewed on my salty, smoky dinner, washing it down with water from one of my flasks. Hopefully, I’d come across another oasis tomorrow to refill them, though I should have enough to get me to the city as long as I was careful.

After I’d filled my belly, I carefully rewrapped the pouch and returned it to my bag, securing the top and binding it around one of the rocks, something I’d quickly learned to do when I woke my first night in the desert to find a four-legged, scaled creature about the size of an adult chall trying to haul one of my bags away.

I added more dried limbs to my fire and stared into the flames that crackled and snapped as they eagerly ate my offering.

Nights could last a lifetime or only one second in the desert, and since I was tired, I pulled a blanket out of my bag and laid down beside the fire, covering myself to ward off the oncoming cold. Mornings here were cold enough to bite through your bones, a sharp contrast to the dry, oppressive heat of the day.

The swoop of wings told me of Perrin’s return, and I lifted my head only long enough to watch him land not far away. He settled on the ground, his head flicking one way and another as he surveyed the world around us.

I drifted to sleep to the snaps of the fire and . . .

I woke to an odd sound.

Bolting upright, I gaped at the Veerenads surrounding my camp. Some had pinned Perrin to the ground with ropes secured to spikes driven deep into the sandy soil. He groaned and jerked against them, his beak wrapped tight with a long cloth to keep him from crying out, and his hind legs bound together .

How had they snuck up on us with Perrin keeping watch?

A dark circle in the sand not far away gave me my answer. An underground passage.

It was said the Veerenads mined deep below the desert, though many believed that they found the crystals they adored within the mountain range near where they’d built their city.

“The desert is mined by the rogues,” a traveling Zuldruxian once told me. “Watch out for them, youngling. If they catch you, no one will ever see you again.”

As a youngling, I’d dismissed his tale as something he told to make me behave, much like the stories of creatures living in the forest who’d hunt me if I wandered too far from my home.

With my weapon in hand, I snapped to my feet. I leaped over my dwindling fire and attacked the Veerenad wrapping the last restraint pinning Perrin to one of the spikes.

The male’s light tan skin blended in with the landscape, though his dark eyes glowed with rage when he turned.

I landed hard against his side and struck out with my blade, but it glanced off his scaly hide. While others gathered round, cheering the Veerenad on, I stepped backward to assess the situation. I’d never battled one of the lizard people before, and I didn’t know anyone who had. They stood at least one-and-a-half times my height, and their claws . . . No one wanted to mess with anything like that.

Which was another reason why I’d been sent to secure this treaty.

“Puny Zuldruxian,” the Veerenad growled, circling me with his arms outstretched and his toe claws digging into the sand.

I moved carefully, gouging out with my blade, only to have him snap back before it hit.

He couldn’t see I was trying to put myself between him and Perrin.

Success. I swiped my knife through one binding, then another, and with quick work, eliminated the rope pinning Perrin’s legs together and the cloth wrapped around his beak.

The Veerenad roared and slammed into me as one, knocking me to the ground. My blade went flying, the stone glinting in the moonlight before disappearing into the thick sand. While I slept, the clouds had flown, and stars lit the sky.

I scrambled through the sand, pulling my second knife as I rolled to my feet, facing the closest Veerenad.

Perrin squawked and flapped his wings, creating huge gusts of sandy wind that pelted us all.

The other Veerenads raced toward him with new ropes in hand, but it was too late. My ryvar burst off the ground, quickly rising high above them. He circled, watching me, waiting for a chance to attack.

They’d kill him. Eat him, so I’d heard. I couldn’t risk it .

“Fly, Perrin,” I cried out as the Veerenads rushed me en masse. “Get help and come back.”

I gouged one Veerenad only to have another latch onto my wrist. His claws sunk deeply, and with a guttural bark of pain, my grip loosened. My knife fell to the sand without making a sound.

The rest of the Veerenads tackled me. They tied me while I bucked and snarled out my rage.

A blow to my head and . . .