Page 87 of Of Scale and Blood

She grunted. “Can’t say I think it’s wise, but desperate times and all that. Damon, you’re lead.”

He glanced at me again, the bloody light in his eyes growing, then strode through the barrier. The witches followed, meaning he’d already added them to the spell that guarded this entrance, with us three bringing up the rear. The drakkons were already aware of our presence, and their curiosity stung the air.

The older woman stopped at the tunnel’s end and, with her hands on her hips, she surveyed the aerie critically. After a moment, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “This isn’t suitable—is there another, larger cavern we could use? The spell will leave all of you comatose for at least a couple of hours, and it would be better if there was no danger of an accidental stomping by random drakkon movement.”

“There’s the upper cavern,” I said. “It’s much bigger and not currently in use.”

“Perfect.” She clapped her hands, drawing multiple jewellike gazes. “The three drakkons involved in this transference, off you go.”

It was said in the manner of an old schoolmarm who expected instant obedience from her charges. Trouble was, if it wasn’t for my presence, most of the drakkons here wouldn’t have understood a word she was saying. It was only my connection to them all—even though I wasn’t actively talking to them—that allowed comprehension.

Kaia’s amusement rumbled through me.She strange.

She is indeed. But you’d better obey before she gets annoyed.

Kaia ordered Rua and Yara to precede her, then called Gria close and wrapped her neck around her drakkling. Gria obviously knew that what was about to happen was dangerous, but she, like the rest of the drakkons here, trusted me. And she, like the rest of them, wanted fire—even if she wasn’t large enough to hold a rider aloft yet.

As Kaia finally ambled after the other two, Gria wandered over for the requisite eye scratch and eagerly accepted Hannity’s offering of dried fish.

Give mine, Kaia said.I good.

We did, then followed the drakkons to the very back of the cavern and up the steep, rocky ramp that led to the upper cavern. The sand here was darker and didn’t radiate the same sort of heat as the lower cavern, which was no doubt the reason why the only hatching caves up here were situated near natural heat vents. The aerie exit here faced west, and in daylight would have given an unending view of Esan and the lands beyond her. Right now, though, it showed a sky dominated by the bleeding moon.

Yara and Rua had each hunkered down in one of the half-moon caves that dotted the perimeter, while Kaia stood near the exit, her scales set aflame by the moon’s light.

The older woman stopped in the triangular “middle” of all three, then glanced at me. “Tell your drakkons everything I say.”

I resisted the urge to say it wasn’t necessary and simply nodded.

She continued, “I’m aware you all claim to understand the dangers, but just to be clear—there is no guarantee that this will work, and it could very well kill you. All of you, drakkon and strega. It could share your powers or remove them. It may give the drakkons fire but may also take years off their lives. It may completely remove fire from you stregas or gift you with whatever elemental powers the drakkons have. But most of all, it will bind you—and likely that of any offspring you might have from this moment on—together, forever.”

“I can’t see that as a problem,” Hannity murmured.

The older woman’s gaze darted toward her. “A life force shared is a life force endangered. If one is hurt, it will be felt by the other. If one is killed, it is likely the other will die.”

You and I no die, Kaia rumbled.Problem solved.

That is definitely a plan I can get behind.All we had to do was hope the riders and the Mareritt allowed us to implement it.

“I do have one question.” Kele stepped forward slightly. “If this spell is successful—if the drakkons do get fire and we retain ours—will they still need us to ride them?”

“That,” the old woman said, “is very much a question for the drakkons. But if this spell works as we believe, then the binding might make it necessary for drakkon and rider to act as one fighting unit to be at their most powerful.”

We be kin,Kaia said.Should fight together.

She said it to the other drakkons rather than just me, and it sounded more like an order than a comment.

Like flamer, Yara said.Gives more protection.

The old woman’s gaze came to mine. “And you? Any questions?”

I hesitated. “If we’re transferring abilities, will we also transfer knowledge? Will the drakkons have to learn from scratch how to flame, or will our experiences and memories transfer across to them?”

“The complete entwining you will all undergo means knowledge should be shared. However, given the vast biological differences, they will likely have to learn how to employyourknowledge to their beings.”

I nodded. Given how long it had takenmeto learn control, and how many things I’d burned in the process, it was damnably good to know they didn’t have to learn from scratch. The last thing we needed was drakkons unintentionally flaming each other or us.

“Nothing else?” she asked, leaving me with the odd feeling that perhaps I should be asking more questions.

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