The Hearts of Dragons by Josh VanBrakle Read Free Book Online Page B

Rondel
said, uncertain how to take Minawë’s outpouring of emotion. “Iren cares for
you. He wouldn’t abandon you like that.”
    The look that Minawë
shot Rondel made the old Maantec again wish she’d kept her mouth shut. Rondel
raised her unbroken right palm in a placating gesture. “All right, all right.
Tell me what happened.”
    Minawë recounted Iren’s
departure. When she finished, Rondel sighed and put a hand on Minawë’s shoulder
in a vain effort to comfort her. “I feared this would happen,” the old woman
admitted. “When I left six months ago, I wanted to believe Iren could be happy
living here with you. Deep down, though, I knew it wouldn’t be enough for him.”
    “He said it was like
being crippled,” Minawë said. “He couldn’t live in a world of magic when he
couldn’t use it, so he went searching for a way to heal himself.”
    “That’s why he went to
Lodia?” Rondel asked. “That makes no sense. There’s nothing in Lodia that can
help him.”
    “He wanted to visit his
parents’ farm. He thought he might find something there.”
    Rondel stiffened. Iren
wouldn’t find anything there but grief.
    Minawë shifted back to
the pair of wooden grave markers before her. She grasped the one bearing the
name “Aletas” with both hands. “Mother,” she whimpered, “why did you leave me
alone?”
    A sad nostalgia filled
Rondel. Six months ago, she had stood behind this same woman, who had knelt
before these same graves. It was as though nothing had happened, as though no
time had passed.
    But time had passed.
Rondel glanced past Minawë to the crater where the Heart of Ziorsecth had once
towered. Its replacement had grown a lot in half a year, even though much of
that time had been during the winter. The seedling drew strength from all the
stems of Ziorsecth, so it far outpaced an ordinary tree.
    As Rondel looked at the
Heart, she caught a glimmer of something green next to it. She activated
Lightning Sight. The moment it began, Rondel could pierce the distance without
difficulty. She took a step back and ended her spell.
    “Is that the
Chloryoblaka down there?” she asked.
    The queen craned her
head around to look at Rondel. “Yes, why do you ask?”
    “That isn’t a secure
place to leave your Ryokaiten.”
    Minawë shrugged. “No one
knows it’s here. Besides, we stopped Amroth. Mother didn’t want that power, and
I want to respect her wishes. Since Ziorsecth is no longer under threat, I left
the bow there to help the Heart recover.”
    Rondel tried to clench her
fists. Her broken hand sent pain through her as punishment for the attempt.
Doing her best to keep calm, she asked, “Then do I have it right that you never
touched the bow? You aren’t the Forest Dragon Knight?”
    “That’s correct.”
    Rondel’s eyes flared.
“Do you think Amroth was Ziorsecth’s only threat?” she shouted. “Do you have
any clue why I came to see you and Iren today?” She pulled back her cloak to
reveal her broken left hand. It was pressed against her chest in a crude sling
she had fashioned after entering Ziorsecth.
    Minawë gasped. “How?
What happened to you?”
    “Not what,” Rondel said,
“who. The Stone Dragon Knight did this to me. She took the Burning Ruby and
nearly killed me in the process. Worse still, well . . .”
    She used her good hand
to draw the Liryometa from its sheath. When the rondel’s broken edge came free,
all the color vanished from Minawë’s face. “That’s why you came here,” she
breathed. “You wanted Iren’s help against the Stone Dragon Knight.”
    Rondel shook her head.
“I did want to find Iren, but not to get his help. Without magic he wouldn’t
stand a chance against this foe. I needed another Dragon Knight, one with magic
better suited to fighting against rock than my lightning abilities are.”
    She gestured with her
chin to the crater. “I wanted the Forest Dragon Knight. I wanted you.”
    At that final word,
Minawë trembled. Still on