Chapter 31

CHAPTER31

Abraxas allowed his children and companions a few days of rest. They’d traveled farther than any of them ever had before, and though his children’s boundless energy was beautiful to behold, he also knew that Tanis must be tired.

The amethyst dragon had carried both Rowan and Draven far longer than she should have. All while keeping an eye on Abraxas’s children and her own. The female dragon had proven herself on this journey, and now it was time for him to make sure that she was taken care of as well.

And so their children explored the island together. His heart melted in his chest as he watched Nyx and Hyperion with the other little ones. Though his children were much larger and significantly older than the others, they were still soft and kind with them. They played with them in the water, watched them with keen eyes, and seemed to not mind in the slightest that this task had been given to them while the adults rested and hunted.

Lumbering toward the sea cliff where he knew Tanis was resting, he laid his giant bulk down next to her and huffed out a long breath. “I have not been in this form for this long since I left the dragon isles.”

“And why should you be confined in such a large form?” Tanis laughed at him, her throat vibrating with the sound. “The mortals would quake with fear every time the ground shook as you walked. You know they are far too sensitive.”

“They fear what they do not know.”

“As they always have.” Her eyes saw far across the distance, and he realized where she was looking.

Umbra.

The island was out there, somewhere. Just beyond their sight, and it held all unknowns for them. The dragonlings couldn’t change, so Tanis and Rowan would have to keep them hidden. They’d have to keep them safe.

Sighing, he shook his massive head and lifted it to stare out past the sea smoke. “Tanis, I thought you would stay. I didn’t think that all of you would come, and that was never my intent. You have to know the dragonlings, your little ones, are...”

He let the words trail off, because she knew what he was going to say. Of course she knew. They were more important than anything else in this world to him and the thought that he might be the cause of their death?

His fear overwhelmed him. If he was the reason the dragons died out this time, he would never forgive himself. They had a chance right now. As they always should have. They had a chance to rebuild and if they were wasting it to save this kingdom that couldn’t care less if they lived or died? It would be the greatest waste.

“You thought I would send your children to battle without coming with them?” Tanis asked, though there was more mirth in her tones than his. “Abraxas, I look at them as though they are my own. All the dragon children are and will be. Do you not look at mine and feel the same?”

Of course he did. All dragons looked at their small ones and thought they were their own. It would be impossible for him to see that crimson dragon and not see a piece of himself in the little boy. And it would be impossible not to see their future in all the others.

Sighing, he nodded. “I see them as my own as well, Tanis. And thus I want to risk their safety even less. The things I did to keep my own eggs alive, when they were not even...”

“I know,” she whispered. “I have seen much in my years and I know exactly the lengths a dragon will go to in keeping their own well and healthy. I trust that both of us know the truth in this matter. I am not risking my children without knowing the potential cost. But I am here because I remember what you said about Lore and her dreams for this kingdom. The dragons will no longer turn their back on their neighbors and not expect that to return to us tenfold. The downfall of the dragons was that we ignored this the last time it happened.”

Ah, she was right. But it burned through his chest to know that he was going to bring them all back to Umbra. He needed a safe place for them, a place where no one would find them.

An invisible place no one but the elves could find, and even then, they would have a hard time when one of their ancient elves perhaps fiddled with the spells.

Abraxas sat straight up, his long neck craning to find Rowan, who had just sat down next to Draven at the fire. “Elf,” he barked.

Both of them looked over at him.

He shook his head in exasperation. “Not you. Rowan, come here for a moment.”

The old man groaned and got to his feet slowly, his hand pressed against the small of his back as though he was in pain. “What is it? I just sat down, Abraxas, and I’ve been running after those little ones all day. They keep insisting on being thrown into the air, but you know I can’t do that endlessly. I’m not one of you.”

He had to try very hard to control the eye roll that threatened to have him seeing the back of his skull. “How familiar are you with the old magic? The spells that elves used to cast on their citadels?”

“Well enough.” Rowan’s back straightened immediately, his hands clenched at his sides in excitement as though the pain was all for show. “Do you know of such a place? I was under the impression they were all torn down or destroyed years ago.”

“I do, actually.”

Draven meandered over to them, his hands tucked behind his back as he nodded. “Ah, the one up in the mountains? Cold for the little ones, but a good place to hide them.”

“Hide them?” Tanis sat up as well, joining the conversation with a gracefully stretched wing. “And this place is safe enough? You think the elves cannot sense the old magic?”

“There had been no elves visiting it for years by the time we had gotten there.” Still, it wasn’t enough. Abraxas looked at Rowan and nodded. “That’s where you come in. If you can change the spells, make them more your own than the old elves. I think it would be very difficult to find.”

“It sounds like it was already well hidden,” Rowan replied. He tapped a finger on his chin, as he always did when thinking. “Perhaps it is doable.”

“You must have cast such magic before?”

The older elf shook his head. “I was no enchanter. I was a scout at best, and it has been a very long time since I’ve touched elven magic. But, I suppose it should be easy enough to figure out, as long as the person who created it had wished for elves to manipulate the original spell.”

Likely, the original elf had not. But Abraxas still had hope. “The spells are very old. Most of the castle is no longer there, but from what I could see, there is a mural in the old courtyard that depicts Lore. I think, perhaps, the old elves wanted her to be there. And if you can use that to your advantage, it may be best for all of us.”

“Ah.” Rowan nodded again. This time the spark in his eyes looked a little more hopeful. “Then there is certainly reason to try. And if I cannot change the spells, then I will set wards around the place. Elven scouts are very good at those, and they will let me know the moment someone comes near us. I can run with them, if I must.”

Abraxas felt a little better knowing that the children would be safe at least. Or Tanis’s children would be. He needed his own children to fight with them.

Sighing, he looked at Tanis, and he knew the other dragon had seen what was in his mind.

She tilted her head to the side, eyeing him and the armor that covered his body. “I know you wish us to fight with you.”

“There is to be another battle, and I believe it will be the one to end the war.”

Draven shuffled his feet on the ground, drawing everyone’s attention to him as he took a deep, steadying breath. “Why is Lore not ending this? She has the power to do so, does she not? She could wave a hand and crumble the entire castle to the ground if she wanted.”

“Then it would be hers.” Abraxas remembered the conversation they’d had in the darkness, where she’d bared her soul to him the night before he left.

He had known the deep fears inside her. He’d seen the darkness that lived within her heart as she sent all the elves in that prison to their doom. As she’d enjoyed the feeling of blood and the splatter of death that surrounded her. His Lore had changed with the powers that came from inside her. It had made her more wild, more feral, more a goddess than an elf. And he knew that was a dangerous place for her mind to be.

“She has changed,” he said quietly, trying his best not to sound as though he were judging her for it. “Lore’s mind is not at the place it needs to be to run a kingdom. And if she wins this battle, she wins the throne. I do not believe she would give it up, and neither does she.”

“Would that really be so bad?”

“Yes,” he growled. “She would lose herself in this power. Lore battles for this kingdom and also to remain herself. We are going to be there for her, fight for her, with her, let her know that there is still a place for who she was before this power was gifted to her.”

It wasn’t that Abraxas was all that worried. Lore would be fine. She would be his no matter how many times she changed and turned into a newer, better version of herself. He’d be there for all of it and love her all the same through every step of the way.

But he refused to see her hate herself. He refused to watch her turn down a dark path that she never wanted to step down in the first place. Not for this kingdom, for their children, for anyone.

And so they would all do their best to ensure her safety and her life were well preserved.

Grinding his teeth, he eyed Draven, who stared up at him with sadness in his eyes. “So the prophecy,” the elf started, clearing his throat. “It could be true?”

“There is no prophecy about Lore. Only about a half elf who changes things. The elves saw a future they did not like and so they spread fear throughout their ranks.” He lowered his head, so he was on eye level with Draven. “And I need you to hear this now, deepmonger. She is not a monster. She will not become a monster. The kingdom she leaves behind will be better than it was before.”

Draven nodded. But he still swallowed hard and looked around himself as though hoping someone would agree with him. “If the prophecies are correct, though, she might need...”

“They are not,” Abraxas growled. “Prophecies are what we allow them to be. We can all stand here, fearing what Lore would do and then abandoning her because we no longer trust her. Or we can all say fuck the prophecies, she is ours. Our mate. Our friend. Our mother.”

He looked over Draven’s head and met Nyx’s gaze, who had paused in her play to listen. To show him the shadows in her own eyes because she had known.

Of course she had known.

He straightened, his wings flaring wide behind him. “She is ours,” he repeated, and the words felt like a new kind of prophecy. “And we will not let her go.”

And all he saw were his family and friends nodding along with him. They were here. They were going to stay and fight and love Lore through all of it. Just like he did.

His heart thudded hard in his chest as hope filled him up near to bursting. They would fight with her and she would not leave again. She wouldn’t dare leave when there were so many people arriving at her side to love her. As they all should have from the first day they met her.

“Abraxas,” Tanis said as the elves returned to their fire. “I did not come only to fight with you. I am not the kind of dragon who fights, but there is something I think would be best to do before we arrive back with Lore.”

He would have lifted a brow if he had them. “You wish to delay our return? Even more than it will add to get to the mountains?”

“I do.” Tanis’s tail lashed in the air behind her, then dipped over the edge of the cliff. “Your children do not know how to fight. And neither do I. If a battle is what awaits us, then it would be foolish to throw them into the mix without trying to teach them and me how best to use our abilities. A dragon is formidable until it is grounded. Do you understand me?”

His first thought was that he would protect them. He’d turn the world into a blazing inferno before the humans would ever ground one of his children. But he also knew that was a foolish response when her fears were warranted.

“Indeed. But there is very little we can do about that,” he replied.

“There are still crystals left in Umbra. Ones that are not connected to my own.” She swallowed hard and then eyed him as though her plan was bound to anger the dragon before her. “I suspect you’ve had the same thoughts and have banished them. But perhaps it is time that we sacrifice a few memories to keep the few dragons alive.”

She wished his children to absorb more memories. Memories of war and bloodshed and battle.

He shook his head. “The greens and blues have never fought alongside my kind. They cannot take the memories of crimson crystals, can they?”

“Perhaps, and if those memories are not of battle, then you can. You can find more memories and take the knowledge of a thousand dragons inside you. You can lead them, while they can learn what it is they do best. Then you will listen to your children, and we will all decide how best to fight in this battle. Do you hear me?”

He shook his head. “They still stay beside me.”

“And they will likely die.” Tanis’s eyes welled with tears, those violet eyes staring directly into his soul. “We must protect them, Abraxas. And this is the only way.”

By all the dragon gods, he hated this. But he knew she was right.

“How can we even find them?”

“I am the last Memory Keeper,” Tanis said, her wings tucked tight against her sides as she lowered her head to the ground. “I will find them. And we will teach your children to battle.”