Page 201 of The Iron Flower

Weapons are lowered as Valasca slides off the horse and helps Queen Alkaia dismount, supporting the queen as she makes her way toward us.

“But... My Queen...” Alcippe protests, her face twisted with rage.

“Patience, Alcippe.” Queen Alkaia holds up a hand. “We will deal with the male in a moment.”

Two older women with elaborate facial tattoos shoulder past the soldiers and make for Ariel, lowering themselves beside her. I move aside as the women quickly assess Ariel, then hastily pull small rune-stones from shoulder sacks to place on Ariel’s forehead, her throat, her shoulders. A scarlet glow forms, then radiates out from stone to stone, rapidly encompassing Ariel in a luminous web of light. Naga carefully slinks toward us, fierce concern in her slit-pupiled eyes.

“Ariel!”a familiar voice cries out.

Naga lifts her head as Wynter’s slim figure breaks through the crowd, her thin black wings flapping in distress. She’s garbed in a purple tunic and pants, the tunic modified slightly for her wings.

The crimson rune-web encompassing Ariel grows patchy and faded. The rune-healers mutter to each other, their brows tightly creased, one of the women shaking her head in dismay. Anguish tightens Naga’s fiery eyes as the rune-web’s light blinks out.

“I’m sorry,” one of the healers says to me, her eyes grave. “She is poisoned beyond help. There is nothing we can do.”

Naga flows in around the healers. She gently picks up Ariel, hugging her close to her shimmering, black-scaled breast, cradling Ariel’s head in one dangerously taloned hand. She draws back and looks deeply into Ariel’s emaciated face.

The dragon’s face fills with unbearable pain as she glances wildly around at all of us. She cranes her neck toward the heavens and lets loose a heartbreaking roar.

“Is she dead?” I cry to Wynter. A sob tears from my throat. “She can’t be dead!”

Wynter goes to Naga, who is now nuzzling Ariel’s filthy hair with her sharp snout. She places a slender hand on Naga’s scaled shoulder.

“‘She is not dead,’” Wynter says with effort, speaking for Naga, her own silent tears slipping down her cheeks. “‘But her life force is ebbing. She feels no pain, she is so drugged.’”

Anger flashes hot in Naga’s emerald eyes. Then, just as quickly, her expression morphs from rage to one of pure misery.

“Naga says,” Wynter continues, “‘I am leaving, and I am taking her with me.’”

“This is a Gardnerian military dragon,” Alcippe rages to Queen Alkaia, gesturing to the Mage Council brand on Naga’s side with her rune-axe. “It needs to be killed!”

Naga’s head whips around to face Alcippe. A deep growl rumbles at the base of her long throat.

Wynter turns to Alcippe, her hand still firmly on Naga’s shoulder. “Naga says, ‘I amnota Gardnerian military dragon. I am Naga, Free Dragon of Wyvernkin. And I could scorch this entire city if I so chose. I have no quarrel with you, Free People. I am taking Ariel Haven to draw her last breath where she belongs, among Wyvernkin, her true kin. I have heard tales of wyverns surviving high in the mountains of the east. I will seek them there. The people who birthed Ariel Haven never loved her, never saw her for what she truly is. They crushed her spirit, abused her, drugged her, told her she was foul and filthy and wicked. She does not belong here among any of you. She belongs with the winged ones.’”

“Alcippe Feyir,” Queen Alkaia says after a long moment, keeping her sharp eyes on Naga. “Hand me your rune-axe.”

Alcippe complies without question, her jaw set tight. Then she strides over to where the Icaral child is curled up, weeping. She scoops the little girl up into a tight, one-armed hug and grimly walks away, cradling the whimpering child against her broad chest.

Queen Alkaia looks at Naga appraisingly. “We, the Free People of the Caledonian Lands, wish you safe travel, Winged One. Take this with you, Free Dragon.” She hands the rune-axe to Valasca, and Valasca solemnly brings it to Naga. “Bury Ariel Haven with it so that she will have it in the next life,” Queen Alkaia says with great reverence, “where she will rise in the Goddesshaven as a fierce, proud soldier.”

Naga accepts the rune-axe from Valasca as she cradles Ariel, then looks to Wynter.

Wynter sets her gaze on Queen Alkaia. “Naga says, ‘Thank you, Queen Mother. I wish Ariel Haven had been welcomed into your lands as a child. She would have been a great warrior.’”

Then both Naga and Wynter turn to me as Wynter continues to voice her words. “‘Elloren Gardner, I wanted to kill you on first sight, but you have proven yourself a friend to me.’”

Both Naga and Wynter look to where Yvan is still crouched on the ground. “‘Yvan Guriel, I owe my freedom to you, and you are my friend. The Gardnerians grow stronger, and war is coming. You must rise up to meet your destiny. You cannot fight who you are meant to be.’”

Yvan’s eyes are riveted on her, his face full of wild conflict and pain. Naga then turns to Wynter and looks deeply into her eyes.

Wynter nods, tears streaming down her cheeks. She throws her arms around Naga, clinging tightly to her for a moment, then steps back and faces all of us, her slender hand still on Naga’s side.

Naga’s wings begin to flap, and she lifts slowly into the air, Wynter’s hand skimming along her body as she rises.

“Naga says to all of you,” Wynter says, her voice choked, “‘Amazakaran, war is coming. You must fight the Gardnerians and the Alfsigr, but you cannot do it alone. You underestimate their evil. You underestimate the darkness claiming this land. Wake up now, Free People, before it is too late. In the name of Ariel Haven, who was raised in captivity, yet remained unbroken, I will return to fight with you!’”

With those final words, the tip of Naga’s tail slips from Wynter’s hand, and she flies east into the night sky, Ariel cradled against her breast, Ariel’s raven winging alongside them.

---