In the Time of Dragon Moon

  Jackrun’s arms rose and fell in rhythm on the surface until he was no more than a black dot in the water where Dragon Moon made a shining path of polished pearl. The path shone right up to me as if I could walk out on it, but it was all water, all moonlight, all wish.

  I stood watching, trembling with cold as Jackrun swam back. Bending down to gather driftwood, I busied my hands and watched under my lashes as Jackrun dried his body off with his cloak before tugging on his shirt and trousers. His wet hair stuck out at odd angles.

  Cold as it was here by the shore, he did not bother putting on his cloak. When he saw me shivering, he took a slow deep breath and sent a soft yellow flame down by our feet, lighting the driftwood logs. Then he shot me a smile, waiting.

  For a moment I didn’t understand what he expected me to say, then I knew. “You didn’t have to summon anger to make fire this time.”

  His smile widened. “My power returned as I got stronger, just like you said it would. When it did, I decided to experiment with it, see what I could do.”

  I thought of the explosive flames he’d roared to destroy the pyre, the soft breath he’d used just now to kindle our beach fire. Destructive fire, warming fire: The two couldn’t have been more different. Princess Augusta was right. He deserved the freedom to grow into his dragon power. He’d have the freedom he needed in Dragonswood. Suddenly Dragonswood and Devil’s Boot seemed as far apart as the earth and moon.

  Jackrun broke a stick across his knee with a loud crack. “Vazan told me you were leaving.”

  “Yes, tomorrow.”

  He tossed the broken pieces in the flames, looked down, and slid his fingers through his wet hair. My scalp tingled. “Come closer,” he said. “Look into my fire and tell me what you see.”

  Some fey had the fire-sight. I would not pass his test. “I don’t have fey powers, Jackrun.”

  “No, but you are a seer.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You thought Sir Geoffrey used fey magic to draw you to his hiding place, but the man was not fey after all, was he?”

  I knelt to brush the thin layer of sand from my ankles, using the moment to turn Jackrun’s words over in my mind. Only men could be seers in my village, yet the Holy Ones had gifted me with sight more than once. The vision in Vazan’s cave led me to fox in Dragonswood and to the kea.

  “Adan?”

  I looked up. “I told you not to call me that,” I said.

  Smile lines formed in the corners of his eyes. “Adan?” he asked again. The word fell like rain on a parched place deep inside me. This time I let it soak in. He had seen me for who I was, spoken truth.

  I stood again, planting my feet. Look into my fire and tell me what you see.

  The flames flew upward in long leafy shapes of growing light. They pitched and swayed. How could anyone see visions in such constant motion? If I could see something, it would be the face and form of the one who’d made this fire with his breath so I could have him twice, across from me, still damp from his swim, and in the ever-moving blaze.

  “I see only fire,” I whispered.

  Jackrun swept the blowing hair away from my face. He’d worn his finest castle garb to sit with the council today, and still, loose threads hung from the cuffs of his damp linen shirt. He could never quite fit into the courtly fashion. I’d been trying to hold my emotions in my heart, already preparing to leave him tomorrow, but the little threads undid me.

  My eyes burned. Jackrun brushed the tears from my cheek with his finger, kissed the place where they had fallen, and put his arms around me.

  “Don’t,” I whispered as he leaned down. “I’m leaving tomorrow. This will only make it worse.” But I didn’t pull away when he kissed me. His body was still cool from his swim, his lips were warm. It was a kiss that grew deeper, sadder. He held me close in the circle of his arms as if he would refuse to let me go. I wove my fingers through his dark hair at the nape of his neck.

  I don’t know how long we would have kissed like this if we hadn’t heard the telltale swooping sound and felt the warm wind swirling over our heads. Babak gusted in. I moaned his name before we drew apart. Jackrun.

  Babak landed on the beach directly in front of us. “Come,” he said. “Both of you.”

  Jackrun retrieved his cloak. “Is it the king?”

  “Yes, the king.”

  Babak flew us back up along the cliffs.

  “What about the king?” I asked.

  Babak swiveled one eye back. “He wants to see you, Uma.”

  The answer startled me. Jackrun tightened his grip around my waist. “Don’t be afraid,” he said into my ear.

  I glanced back. “Do you know something about this, Jackrun?”

  “I might.”

  “Tell me,” I said. Jackrun held his tongue as Babak circled down. Many had left the green, but the fey king and the English king remained by a newly built bonfire along with Jackrun’s family, Princess Augusta, and the dragons.

  Jackrun leaped down and helped me dismount. Vazan narrowed her silver eyes at Babak. “We have been waiting. What took you so long to find them?”

  “I did my besssst!” he hissed. Would these two ever stop fighting?

  Lady Tess motioned me over to King Arden.

  I curtsied, awkwardly, then stood with my feet spread apart on the ground, a warrior’s stance, though I did not feel much like a warrior at the moment. I wanted to feel the earth’s power wicking through me as I faced the king. “Vazan, will you come here?” She lumbered over, wrapping the tip of her red tail around my skirts. “Tuma-doa—thank you, rivule.” I felt a little better with her on my left and Jackrun to my right, but not much.

  Jackrun bowed. “Tell Uma what this is about, will you, sire?”

  King Arden’s shoulders were hunched as if he carried some great invisible weight. I had no herbs to heal his grief, no mixture for the pain in his soul. I could only pray.

  His Majesty appraised me. “You are a fine physician, Uma Quarteney.” I saw admiration in his look. “You attended my poor wife, God rest her soul, and saved my nephew Jackrun’s life after the wolf’s attack.” I’d helped him too, though that would remain a secret between us.

  Jackrun reached out and gave my hand a squeeze. I blushed twice, first at the compliment, and then at Jackrun’s boldness, touching me here in front of everyone. Jackrun did not let go of my hand until he gave it another squeeze and even then he linked his smallest finger with mine.

  The king was still addressing me. “Tanya tricked us into thinking you were a murderer. I am glad for your sake the truth came out in time.”

  “Thank you, Your Highness.” This was as close to an apology as you could expect from a monarch.

  “I am sure you are pleased with the outcome of today’s proceedings,” he added.

  I did not think beheading Tanya would ease his suffering. And I’d preferred King Onadon’s suggestion of a mirror prison for Tanya, but he would not want to hear my thoughts on execution. “I am, Your Majesty.”

  “Jackrun spoke to me of your concerns for your people. My soldiers have been stationed there long enough. I’ve already sent a messenger to Devil’s Boot with an order for my army to break camp and come home.”

  Song broke out in my body. There would be no army threatening my people when I returned, no one surrounding the village, keeping them hostage. King Arden was smiling. Jackrun beamed. I felt warmth glowing in my chest as if I’d been given a new heart.

  “Thank you, Your Majesty.” I trembled so much I could only half curtsy if I hoped to keep my balance.

  “Don’t thank me, Uma, thank Jackrun. He convinced me it was the right thing to do.”

  Jackrun’s eyes were bright. On my left, Vazan shivered snout to tail. The quaking rumbled through my body. She craned her neck and blew a riotous fire skyward. I raised my hands high in the ai
r, palms up to her victory blaze, cupping fire and stars and Dragon Moon. Jackrun lifted his chin and roared brilliant red-orange flames. Then everyone seemed to be moving. Lady Tess dashed over with Duke Bion and Augusta. All three joined me, raising their hands palms up to the light in sudden celebration. And the dragons joined Vazan, breathing their flags of fire until the night bloomed bright with it.

  King Onadon made circles with his hand, turning branching flames to shining orbs spinning overhead. This was not their moment of victory, but everyone joined in and hailed it just the same. My people were free. The reds were free.

  The sky blazed brighter than the bonfire until the flames subsided. Jackrun’s father laughed and slapped him on the back.

  My arms still felt warmed by dragon fire, silken with caught moonlight when I lowered them at last to link fingers with Jackrun again.

  “It has been a long day,” King Arden said. “There is one last thing I promised Jackrun I would say before I retired to my rooms.”

  I blinked up at Jackrun’s face. What now?

  His Majesty said, “Your talent has not gone unnoticed. You have earned the right to become our royal castle physician, Uma. I offer you the position along with ample payment for your services.”

  “Your Majesty, I . . .” Words fell away. I could not move.

  “You would take Uma from ussss?” Vazan hissed at the king.

  “Vazan, let me speak.”

  “Are you English now?” she snapped.

  “No, rivule. I am half English, half Euit.”

  Her eyes flashed. “And you don’t know where your home issss?”

  I couldn’t bear to look in her quicksilver eyes, or at Jackrun as they both waited for my decision. He wanted me to stay. She wanted me to go. But what did I want? The king’s offer was tempting. I would be honored as the royal castle physician. And what he said was true. I had earned the right to practice medicine here.

  But Jackrun’s presence made this place home for me, nothing else. I looked from one face to another in the small, prestigious crowd.

  How many hearts will you break if you go? How many hearts would break if I stayed?

  The king breathed a sigh of impatience. “Answer me, Uma.”

  “Thank you, King Arden. It is a very generous offer, but I cannot accept.”

  Jackrun withdrew his hand. I shivered as his warm energy drained out of me.

  King Arden frowned. “You refuse my offer?” He was not used to anyone turning him down.

  “My tribe is dying out, Your Majesty.” I straightened my shoulders. “We intend to live. Some of the women wait for my father’s cure. They cannot have children without it. I am the only healer who knows how to find the herbs, prepare them, and administer them. I have to go home.”

  “Uma, please,” Jackrun said under his breath.

  Did he think this was easy for me? “Don’t you understand anything? I was brought here against my will. My home is in Devil’s Boot. My medicines are needed there.”

  “Even though you told me a woman cannot be a true healer in your tribe?”

  “I have to try.”

  Jackrun drew back. “You could work here as an honored physician, Uma. I would have made a home for you.”

  You are my home, I thought. I pressed my lips together. I’d cry out, take it all back if I didn’t.

  His face fell. I wanted him to tell me he understood. He wasn’t about to say that.

  One by one people left the bonfire. Jackrun crossed the green with his father and His Majesties. The dragons spread out on the wide lawn. Lady Tess and Princess Augusta stayed outside under the stars.

  “Uma,” said Lady Tess. “Come here.” The two women welcomed me between them by the burning wood stack. I could not feel its warmth.

  The fire I wanted was gone.

  My companions rested their hands on my shoulders as we faced the fire.

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Castle Green

  Dragon Moon

  October 1210

  AT DAWN I set the Adan’s trunk on the castle green and looked around again for Jackrun. He’d promised to meet me here before I left. Checking the gates and terrace stairs once again, I heaved a breath and adjusted my cloak. Damp grass soaked into Bianca’s slippers. My toes were numb with cold. I wiggled them and stomped my feet to try and keep them warm. Hurry! I thought, as if I could summon Jackrun with my need the way my father used to call Vazan. She’d return from her hunt soon and would expect me to be ready to go the moment she landed, knowing her.

  Once again I looked back at the deserted stairs and gates. King Arden’s flags tugged and slapped on the battlements. A windy day to sail. Tess and her family planned to ship out today. She didn’t want to linger and see Tanya’s execution any more than I did. Last night I’d told her about Bianca’s many small kindnesses to me while I was captive here. I asked Tess if she might take Bianca home to Dragon’s Keep before King Arden turned his anger toward her. Bianca might feel more at home in the summer castle where half-fey people like her, like Tess, were welcome. “I’ll talk with Bion,” she said. I hoped he would agree.

  In the distance, two small dots soared down from Morgesh Mountain’s snowy ridge. As they flew closer I saw Vazan’s red wings pumping in unison with Babak’s mottled golden green. Vazan was a solitary hunter. I was surprised she’d let Babak join her this morning. Wispy clouds blushed pink in their wake. They landed side by side on the grass. Vazan licked fresh blood from her claws with her long forked tongue. Babak snapped his jaws and picked his teeth with the tip of his talon.

  I bowed. “Was it a good hunt, rivule?”

  “Not the choicest kill,” she said with a growl.

  At last Jackrun crossed the lawn bearing two cloth sacks. You’re too late. A sharp pain entered my heart. I’d wanted to be alone with him, to say good-bye before Vazan returned from her hunt.

  He dropped the sacks and took me aside, leading me partway across the lawn, but not out of earshot—Vazan’s and Babak’s sharp ears could hear a mouse squeak from a mile away. We stopped in a darkened spot under a passing cloud. “Can’t you wait a little longer before you go?”

  Vazan was already flicking her tail. “I can’t. I have to go home now.”

  Jackrun touched the ribbon in my hair. It was the same color as the one that blew free the night we’d faced each other on the beach at Dragon’s Keep, Jackrun offering to carry Father’s trunk, me refusing his help. I had learned to stop refusing him. Now I had to again. “Why did you come out here so late?” I said, my voice pinched with anger.

  He gripped my upper arms. “Tell me what you want.”

  I turned my head; a sharp pain tore my heart like teeth. “Don’t ask. It hurts too much.”

  “Look at me, Uma. Tell me.”

  “Let me go.”

  “Uma,” Vazan growled. “It’ssss time.”

  I freed my arms and crossed the lawn. Vazan eyed the Adan’s trunk suspiciously. She took in the netting I’d brought out to strap it to her back. “You expect me to carry that?”

  “Yes please, rivule.”

  “I am not a mule.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “It was the Adan’s. It’s full of medicine.” Father’s Herbal was gone, but at least I could bring this vital part of his life home with me. The women needed the precious kea and huzana I’d carefully packed inside.

  She dug her claws in the ground. “I will do it for you this once, you understand.”

  “Thank you, rivule.”

  Vazan lowered herself. Jackrun set the trunk on her back and threw the net overtop to secure it in place for the flight. My clammy hands felt useless as I helped tug the net down. Jackrun took it from me. I wanted to touch the dark curls that had pulled free from the leather strap at the nape of his neck as he tied the knots below Vazan’s underbelly.

  H
e straightened up before I had the courage to do it and held out one of the sacks he’d brought. “Food for your journey.”

  I pretended not to notice his strained expression as I took it. No doubt I looked just as gray-faced. “We’ll be all right, Jackrun.”

  “Remember,” he said, but he could not finish. I drank him in, standing on the lawn in his fighting garb. He’d make his way to the weapons yard as soon as I left. Jackrun handed me the second sack. “Don’t look, just put your hand inside.”

  I pulled the drawstrings and reached in, feeling the shape of what must be a book, the back side of smooth leather, the front embossed. I bit my lip when I drew it out. The two trees burned onto the dark leather cover had strong trunks and branches. The oak and the willow did not touch aboveground, but their roots intermingled underneath. A disk that might be sun or moon hung in the sky above them.

  I ran my hand along the sturdy-looking trunks and slid my fingers down to feel the interwoven roots.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night,” Jackrun said. “I breathed fire to heat the stylus nib and burned the tree patterns into the cover.”

  “A new way to use your fire,” I whispered, my throat thick. “You are an artist like your mother.”

  “No, not like her,” he said, shaking his head and looking down.

  I wondered what book he’d chosen from the castle shelves. Wilde Island history or a book of verse or . . . I opened the cover. It was blank.

  “An Adan needs an Herbal,” Jackrun said.

  Tears sprang to my eyes. The loss of Father’s Herbal was a hollow space nothing could ever fill; there was so much knowledge in its pages. But this blank book was the seed of something new.

  Jackrun tugged my belt, drawing me closer. The impatient smoke tumbling from Vazan’s nose coiled over Jackrun’s dark head as his lips touched mine.

  I leaned in. His arms were tight around me, his kiss deep and sorrowful until Vazan’s hiss drew us both back heaving for breath.