Page 136 of Iron Hearts and Dragon Magic

There were still some pieces of the armors of the boundless floating in the ocean. He moved his body to the horizontal position, then pulled as many pieces of metal as fast as he could, placing them under him, at the same speed as he was, but then decelerating them slowly, until they stopped, supporting him mid-air. More like low air, almost touching the surface of the ocean.

This had been close. That crazy old dragon mage had almost killed Fel. What a great help he was. And then he had the nerve to talk about ripping the universe or whatever he had called it. Fel took a deep breath, glad to be alive for the second time today, but now wondering how he was going to get back to Aluria.

Around him there was only ocean and pointy, rocky islands. The shore wasn’t far, but what shore? He had absolutely no idea where he was, not even a rough estimate. While he assumed this was Fernick, he wasn’t even sure of that.

He made the pieces of metal lift him higher until he found a flat surface where he could at least sit and think. His metal hands were still with him, and he let them rest beside him. The stars could tell him where he was and where to go—if he knew about them. Naia had been the one more interested in astronavigation, and even she would be unlikely to find her position in such an unknown land.

And then, he could go back to his original plan, which was to wait for the sun to rise and then fly south. Or rather, float south. Eventually he would end up in Aluria. Probably too late to do anything, as he would take forever to get there without the powerful propulsion of his dragon wings.

The truth was that he was exhausted, and yet he feared the boundless could find him here. While he could defend himself with the scattered pieces of metal, he wasn’t sure for how long and against how many foes.

The best thing to do would be to get to the shore, away from these islands, away from this place where other dragons could find him. The land would likely provide him a place to hide and rest, before his long journey back. At least he was alive, and for that perhaps he should have thanked the First Mage.

Slowly, he let the pieces of armor support his weight and allow him to glide to the rocky shore, which didn’t provide much protection. He would need to go further inland to find a forest where trees could provide cover for him.

Before he did that, however, he heard the now familiar sound of dragon wings in the distance, and descended to the ground, where he hid behind some rocks. It wasn’t a great hiding place, but hopefully the darkness of night would provide enough cover for him.

Peeking from the rock, he noticed that there were only two dragons. One of them landed by the cave that led to the First Mage and swapped forms, then yelled something. It was hard to hear due to the distance and wind. The other dragon flew in circles, as if looking for something. It was a dark dragon, likely black—like his cousin Jacine. It was hard to see the person by the cave, but it could be his other cousin.

Fel decided to float up and wave. “Siniari? Jacine?” he yelled, hoping it was indeed the case, then added, “It’s me.” If by any chance he was wrong, they were still only two dragons, and Fel could deal with them.

The human swapped forms again, and both dragons flew in his direction. All Fel sensed was calm and relief. As they got close to him, he realized that they were indeed his cousins, and they soon landed beside him and swapped forms.

“Isofel?” Siniari asked.

“Yes. How did you know I would end up here?”

“We didn’t,” Jacine said. “But dragons can sometimes feel a pull towards a place, and it just happened to us. I’m glad you’re alive.”

“We should leave.” Siniari’s voice was tense. “Can you swap forms?”

“My dragon got hurt.”

“I can carry him,” Jacine offered. “Then you can make a ring for us to fly through.” She turned to Fel. “Can you come with us?”

“I need to get back to Aluria, but—”

He was going to say that he could maybe float through the circle, but Siniari interrupted him.“Let’s get out of here, then we talk.”

They swapped into their dragon forms in a flash, and then Fel was caught by a dragon’s paw and flown through a fire ring.

* * *

Dream web.Or rather, nightmare web.

Azir was covered in it, the material weaved by a rare and dangerous spider, meant to trap its prey forever, keeping them in a strange, pleasant slumber, unaware of the real world. His doze hadn’t beenthatpleasant, but certainly illuminating. At least now he was awake.

He had always heard that dream spiders sucked people’s blood, but he didn’t think that was the case, as he had no marks. Still, if they were going through all this trouble to enchant their victims, they had to be feeding on something. His best guess was that they were feeding on his emotions.

Delight, shock, betrayal, hatred. If that was what the spider wanted, it explained the dream web, explained how he’d been reliving those strange moments in his life, moments that he had believed forgotten, but still hurt like sharp new blades.

And yet he had seen a sliver of truth.

Truth? Or deception? Pointless hope?

It wasn’t pointless. He had come to the hollow with one goal in mind—to rescue Ursiana. What was the point of risking his life for her while clutching old wounds as if they were diamonds? What he had seen in his vision—Prince Sebastian tricking him—made a lot more sense than anything he had ever conjured in his delirious, hateful, wounded mind. And now what hurt most was having wasted so many years of his life duped by a silly lie.

The spider keeping him prisoner was likely enjoying these morsels of shock, hate, and regret, while he restrained by that sticky material. Still, he was able to reach for a dagger in his coat pocket, and then ripped that dream web all out at once. Then, in a swift motion, he stabbed what looked like the ceiling of a low cave and was met with a shrill, loud scream. Perhaps the books were wrong in claiming that these spiders sucked blood, but they were right about the right way to kill them.

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