Page 46 of The Dragon Queen
I looked at the queen. “This seems unwise.”
Queen Eldinar still wore that fiery look, like no amount of reason would extinguish her rage. “Each of the dragons is controlled by a dark elf. So, with every dark elf that we kill, that’s one dragon that’s freed.”
“Except that there are hundreds of dark elves who reside in the vault,” I said. “So we can kill a hundred of them, and not a single one could control a dragon.”
She looked unconvinced, too pissed off to agree.
“I understand how infuriating this is, but storming in there and getting ourselves killed isn’t the?—”
The sound of a horn a blaring horn cut me off. It originated from the sea, which meant it probably came from the harbor. It was loud and piercing, and when the blower ran out of breath, he paused and did it again, the baritone creating a tremor in the air.
Queen Eldinar turned to me. “They’ve spotted the ships.”
Adrenaline had been heavy in my blood since the moment this clandestine mission started, but now it turned into a crescendo of anxiety. “Then war has begun.”
Both of us stiffened when we felt the vibrations in the ground, traveling through the stone cliff and making it seem like an earthquake was beneath our feet.
Queen Eldinar was the first to understand what was happening. “They’re opening the door.”
“What door?” I didn’t see anything, but the sound of shifting stone was so loud I could barely hear her words.
She stepped back and pointed. “The wall.”
I looked at the cliff and searched for a doorway that was slowly opening, but I didn’t see anything move. “I don’t understand?—”
“It’s the entire wall, Calista.”
When I opened my narrow perception to a greater area, I understood. It was bigger than a door to any keep or castle. It was a door so heavy that no man-made mechanics could possibly shift something so massive. It was the size of a mountain itself.
“We’ve got to run.” Queen Eldinar took off the way we came, reaching the rocks and climbing down in a reverse direction.
I followed her, my heart like a drum in my throat as well as my chest.
The guard must have run off because he disappeared.
We reached the base of the cliff and moved to the outskirts of town, and once we were at a distance, we were finally able to see the view before us. The doors were halfway open, and in the crack, the two dragons were visible, heavy harnesses attached to their bodies while they pulled the door open on a track. The dragons were large and mighty, but it was a sickening sight to see them pull upon a door that was three times their size.
Queen Eldinar turned to me. “We’ll have to take them in the skies. With every dark elf we defeat, that’s one dragon free. We can quickly turn the tide in our favor and win this war before it even begins.”
CALISTA, WHAT IS HAPPENING?Perhaps Inferno heard the sound of the horn or he simply became impatient.
We think they’ve spotted the ships at the harbor because they’ve sounded the horn.
WHAT OF THE DRAGONS?
We were unable to get inside because they sensed our presence. The door is opening, and we suspect the dragons will emergewith the dark elves as their riders. We’ll have to take them in the skies.
WE ARE COMING. ARE YOU SAFE?
For the moment…
Chapter 8
Talon
The sound of the horn was distant, so distant that I didn’t hear it.
Khazmuda did.They’ve spotted General Ezra and the soldiers.He stood beside me on the small beach at the bottom of the cliff. With his midnight-black scales, we were able to come close without being detected due to the darkness.