Page 80 of Kingdom of Spirits
“Please.”
Marius did so, using a few branches he broke from a nearby beech. He then went to Lija and oversaw Maiwenn and Atticusas they applied healing unguent to the Seabreak’s wing. Marius splinted the two broken places along the top of her wing.
“The lower break will have to heal as best it can. The bones are too shattered to be splinted,” he said, glancing at Atticus.
Atticus nodded in agreement, and Maiwenn opened her mouth as if to say something, but she remained quiet.
Marius knew what she had been about to say. Lija might never fly again.
Swallowing that worry down, he ordered Enora and her Heartsworn to carry Lijaen talonas it was called when one dragon toted another with careful talons.
Once the other riders were ready, Titus helped Marius situate Tahlia on his lap on Ragewing’s back. As they lifted off, the units arranging themselves in the sky, Marius tucked a lock of black hair behind Tahlia’s ear.
“Soon, I’ll see those honey-gold eyes of yours again. I know it.”
She didn’t move a muscle and so he began to repeat the same phrase in his mind over and over like a chant, like one of the Druid’s spells, in hopes that it was the truth.
She is too alive to die. She is too alive to die. She is too alive to die.
Ragewing remained quiet as they flew, and the journey home was ages long.
If they had broken the curse, and the plague was gone, why was Tahlia still unconscious? Had her body suffered too much damage already? It was inaccurate to blame himself, but guilt whipped his soul regardless.
The riders soared up the crest of Dragon Tail Peak. Wind pushed at their backs, chilly but scented with the first of the summer flowers. Marius and Ragewing led all three units over the two sets of walls surrounding the order’s keep. They landed in the arena, and Remus was there to greet them.
Marius climbed down Ragewing’s shoulder, and Remus helped him get Tahlia down. Titus hurried to help as well.
“What’s the status here?” Marius asked Remus as he lifted Tahlia into his arms once more. “Speak freely around Sir Titus.”
Remus inclined his head in a shallow bow. “The Bloodworkers are meeting now. As per the order rules, the Bloodworkers took charge the moment the majority of the knights went rogue. They are deciding whether or not to send word to the king about potentially disbanding the entire order so they may start anew.”
“Exactly how do they propose to kick us out when we are bonded to dragons?”
“There are whispers that Bloodworker Cavalon has knowledge of a potion that would break those bonds and allow the dragons to choose new riders.”
Ragewing growled in Marius’s mind.
“How do they suppose they will talk the dragons into taking such a potion?”
Remus shrugged, then ran a hand down Ragewing’s leg, eyeing the dragon’s dirtied talons and a smear of char along his scales. Marius didn’t know which dragon had fired on them while they were controlled by Ophelia, but it didn’t matter. The fight had been madness. There was no blame to set anywhere besides on the shade of Ophelia.
Gaius, I’m sorry I wasn’t there, at your back, to prevent this tragedy.
The wind lifted the ends of his tangled hair and stirred Tahlia’s wavy locks too. He wanted to believe it was the spirit of the old commander, giving them his blessing.
“Sir Titus, send for the Healers that we can trust. As soon as you and Ptol are ready, fly to the king and queen. Tell them what has happened here, of Ophelia’s dark magic, the monster, andmy curse. Inform them of what Remus has told us. Cavalon is no friend to the king.”
Titus nodded and hurried away.
Marius met Healer Albus at the side door to the riders’ wing in the keep.
“Tell me everything,” Albus said, waving Marius into the keep.
She is too alive to die. Wake up, Tahlia. Please, wake up.
Chapter 34
Tahlia