Eona: The Last Dragoneye

  I rose on my knees, enough to see over the boat. With sword raised, Kygo was heading for three soldiers advancing across the beach. Along the seawall, villagers were using hooks and poles to defend their barricade against a vicious attack from ten or so pikemen. Ryko and Dela had marshaled a group of men to hold back more troops who were slowly forcing their way through the maze of tuaga spread across the main road. A line of long-bow archers, some of them women, stood on the seawall, firing into the ranks caught in the bottleneck created by the bamboo spikes.

  I swallowed my fear and turned back to the task. “Caido, get that arrow out of Lord Ido.”

  With a nod, Caido dug his knees farther into the sand, bracing himself. “My lady, at the moment it is plugging the puncture. When I pull it out you’re not going to have much time.”

  “Do it.”

  Caido’s thin face tensed. He reached around and hammered his palm against the stub of shaft in Ido’s back, pushing it through his body. Ido gasped and arched against the agony. With brutal speed, Caido grabbed the barbed shaft from the front and wrenched it out of Ido’s chest in a wet sucking release.

  I dug my own feet into the sand, pressing the gateways into the earth’s energy. “Quick, lie him down.”

  The Dragoneye grunted as his back hit the sand. I pressed my hands against the wound, blocking the escape of air, as Caido scooped up his sword and crawled to the edge of the boat.

  The resistance man tensed, rising into a crouch. “My lady,” he said urgently. “His Majesty is in trouble.”

  “Go,” I said. “Go.”

  He pushed himself up as the sound of sword meeting sword clanged with quickening intensity. Caido roared a battle cry and ran to his emperor’s aid. I snatched a glance over the boat again. Kygo was fighting three men, the desperate struggle sending up showers of sand. For a moment I was frozen, caught between Kygo and Ido, both fighting for their lives.

  Under my hands, Ido’s chest jerked in shallow pants, his blood warm and sticky on my skin. Right now, he was in more peril. I forced myself to take a shaking breath. I could do this; I had done it before. Another breath, this time steadier. Finally, on the third, I saw Ido’s solid body shift into energy, his seven points of power dull and getting darker with each labored beat of his heart. There was no silvery flow through the meridians along the right side of his body. On the next breath I called the Mirror Dragon, opening myself to her power with the urgent command: Heal.

  Hua tore through me in joyous union, filling my body with the ecstasy of golden song and the majesty of dragon-sight. Below us, the battle on the seafront was a swarm of bright dots coming together and breaking apart in a desperate dance. We saw the blue one—his thin tether to the earthly body fading— trying to circle us, trying to protect, but the other ten had already felt our presence.

  Heal! We gathered power from the endless ebb and flow of the sea, from the wild energy of the approaching cyclone, from the crisscross of lines that pulsed deep in the earth. We were Hua and our golden howl roared through the pathways of Ido’s body, knitting flesh and sinew, fusing dark pathways back into the smooth silvery flow of life. As one, his seven points of power burst back into spinning bright vitality, the black gap in his crown still present, still resisting my influence. Ido gasped—a long, raw breath that leaped through his Hua. The Rat Dragon shrieked, power pulsing across his blue scales, opal claws spreading. His energized body coiled into readiness, his huge head swinging left to right, scanning the below-world. The ten dragons were coming—and their need was greater than ever before.

  “Eona!” Ido pulled me down on top of him. The sudden contact wrenched me back into my earthly body. His eyes, so close to mine, were all silver. “We can use the ten to stop the soldiers.”

  Then I was back with the Mirror Dragon, the lift of her power pulling me into her sinuous strength. We rolled through the heavy clouds, our ruby claws slashing at the pressure that closed in on all sides. Beside us, the blue one shrieked again, twisting to meet the energy that circled in a high-pitched keen of ten sorrowing songs.

  Their savage arrival slammed power across our body, knocking us backward through the air. We twisted, muscles straining to stop the impetus. A huge green body rammed us, emerald claws ripping through red scales. We screamed and ducked, our tail battering the bright green flank. The clash of Hua boomed across the sky. The Rabbit Dragon pounced, but the blue beast rammed him, and the huge pink body tumbled past.

  Go lower. Ido’s mind-voice cut through the fury of dragon battle. To the soldiers.

  We found the ranks of bright Hua streaming down the hill and dived toward them. The ten followed behind us in a shrieking, ragged circle. The Rat Dragon twisted through the air, claws and teeth driving the Ox and Tiger out of formation, flattening the circle of dragons into a lopsided crescent.

  Now!

  We opened our pathways, the familiar orange taste of his power roaring through us, drawing up our energy. But this time we were not left behind. This time we were riding the roiling wave of Hua with Ido and the blue beast. Around us, the dragons were trying to re-form their circle. We had to stop them.

  Bind the lightning, Ido ordered.

  We felt the blue beast harvesting the tiny cold sparks of energy within the clouds, drawing them into the burning rush of our united power. We clawed at a bright flicker, pulling it into the rolling force. Deep within us we heard a howling song of destruction, a churning mix of gold and silver power spiked with the flashing fire of lightning.

  Eona, aim it at the soldiers. How?

  Channel, like you do when you heal.

  We felt our combined power gather into a crest, hanging for a moment as if offering the chance to step back. And then it broke, crashing into a rush of devastation.

  With all our strength we tried to channel it downward, but most of it flooded through our unpracticed grasp and slammed into the ten beasts around us. Their circle broke across the celestial plane. Shrieking, they vanished, leaving the bitter taste of despair.

  Ido and the Rat Dragon were not so clumsy. With iron control, they sent destruction into the earth below. The fireball of lightning and power ripped through the bright points of Hua marching toward the village, obliterating the ranks of soldiers in its roaring path. Flames washed across the hill, the savage energy glowing through the celestial plane like a false dawn. Dirt and rock and ash spun upward into high arcs, then fell across the village and beach in a dark driving rain. The battle lines broke as screaming people ran for cover from the pelting debris.

  I gasped, dragged back into my earthly body by the sudden sharp impact of a rock that sent hot pain through my shoulder. I blinked through a blur of tears, the heat and shape beneath me coalescing into Ido’s body, the tight wrap of his arms holding me against his chest.

  “It’s not finished yet,” he said.

  He rolled over until I was under him, the full length of his body shielding me, his weight braced on his elbows. The aftershock boomed across the beach, the sand shifting under us, a fine layer of ash sweeping across our skin in a hot wind. Ido winced as stones thudded against his back and clumps of earth exploded around us in plumes of dust.

  “It will stop in a moment,” he said, glancing up at the leaden sky.

  The wild savagery of the dragon battle and the exhilaration of power slipped away from me. I was hollow, a shell made of distant screaming, falling ash, and the dank stench of incinerated land and people.

  “What did we do?” I whispered, horror locking me under him.

  “We stopped Sethon from killing everybody and taking us.” He touched my wet cheek with a bloodstained finger. The coppery tang echoed the drifting smell of death in the air. “You should be celebrating.”

  Celebrate? When all I could see was the image of all those soldiers on the hillside extinguished in just one fiery moment. “We killed them all. So fast.”

  He watched me, his brows drawn into a small frown. “It was us or them, Eona. Your power just saved all your frie
nds.”

  Although it was true, I shook my head, unable to find words for the desolation that pierced my spirit.

  “You are too tender.” Hesitantly, he cupped my cheek in his hand. “You will be undone if you think of them as men. They are your enemy.”

  “Is that what you do?”

  “No, I do this.” He lowered his mouth to mine. I closed my eyes, part of me knowing I should push him away—the other part longing for a moment that held life, not death.

  I felt Ido’s body tense and opened my eyes. The tip of a sword slid along his jaw, forcing his head back. Kygo stood over us. Under the streaks of ash and sweat, his face was white with fury. “Get off her.”

  The shock in Ido’s eyes hardened into rage. Slowly, he pushed himself away from my body, the sword guiding him back on to his knees.

  “Are you all right?” Kygo asked me. His voice snapped like a whip.

  I nodded. Somewhere in the village, a child wailed, the heartrending sound rising above the other calls and shouts; closer, the sporadic sounds of steel meeting steel echoed through the blanketing quiet of the drifting dust.

  Kygo shifted the sword against Ido’s throat. “Did you make that fireball?”

  Ido’s lips were drawn back into a snarl. “You should thank us,” he said. “Lady Eona and I saved your precious resistance.”

  Kygo’s eyes fixed on me. “You did that, Eona?”

  I curled my body against the boat, away from the awe in his voice. “You were outnumbered. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

  Kygo stepped back from Ido and lowered the sword. The Dragoneye rubbed the thin line of blood that the blade had pressed from his skin.

  “Now you have your army of two, Your Majesty,” he said acidly. “Tried and tested.”

  I stared at the Dragoneye. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t be naïve, Eona.” Ido shot a malicious glance at Kygo. “Do you think he got me out of the palace to nurture crops and redirect rain? I am here as a weapon, and you are here to blunt or sharpen my blade at his command.”

  I looked at Kygo. “That’s not true, is it?”

  Kygo straightened. “You said it yourself, Eona—we are outnumbered. We will always be outnumbered. I swear I never wanted you to break the Covenant. I just wanted you to control him.” He nodded at Ido. “He has no problem killing people.”

  Ido laughed, a sharp bitter sound. “You are not so different from your uncle.”

  Kygo’s hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

  “When were you going to tell me about this, Kygo?” My voice sounded distant, as if I stood lengths away from myself.

  “When we got to the eastern rendezvous. Before the final strike.”

  I stood up. “Well, now I know.” Beyond the boat, the bodies of three soldiers lay on the sand. Caido looked up from salvaging their fallen weapons as I rounded the prow.

  “Eona,” Kygo called behind me. “I was going to ask you.”

  I looked over my shoulder. “Thank you for that consideration, Your Majesty.”

  Wrapping my arms around my body, I walked steadily toward the battle-torn village, the huge blackened gouge in the hill above it like a long, deep scar.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CAIDO STEPPED BETWEEN the two bodies sprawled across the narrow ridge above the beach. One man had no obvious marks on him, but his neck was bent at an ominous angle. The other had been stabbed in the heart, flies circling the knife embedded in his chest. A quiver of arrows was strapped across the man’s back. Although I stood a few lengths away and the low light of dusk was approaching, I could see that their fletching was the same as on the arrow that had hit Ido.

  “Yes, this is Jun, Your Majesty,” Caido said, staring at the knifed man. He shook his head. “I can’t believe it. He has been with the resistance from the start.”

  It was the young archer who had often guarded Ido. He had seemed loyal, but I had only spoken to him once or twice. Who knew what went on in the hearts of men? I certainly did not.

  “Who is the other man?” Kygo asked.

  “One of the village lookouts,” Yuso said. “All the other village sentries are dead, shot with the same arrows as those in the quiver. An efficient job.” He glanced at Caido questioningly.

  Caido wiped his mouth. “Jun was our best bowman.” He looked across the beach to the boat where we had sheltered. “Good enough to make that shot with ease.” He sighed, the whole of his thin body lifting and falling with disillusion. “This is going to kill his father.”

  Ryko stood from his crouched survey of the area. “It looks as if the sentry surprised Jun.” He pointed to a scuffed area behind two boulders. “The man got his knife home before Jun broke his neck.”

  “What say you, Naiso?” Kygo asked. His eyes did not quite meet mine.

  The emperor had ordered his Naiso to accompany him, and his Naiso had obeyed. But if Kygo had hoped Eona was also at his side, he was wrong. She was buried somewhere deep within me, numb and silent.

  “Was he ever in the army, Caido?” I asked.

  The resistance man nodded. “It is where he learned his bow skills. He had some funny stories to tell around the fire.” He cleared his throat. “I am sorry, Your Majesty, it is hard to reconcile the man and the deed.”

  Kygo grunted. “I fear there is not much room for doubt. Still, question the prisoners for confirmation, Yuso. Maybe they saw him in their camp. ”

  Yuso bowed, wincing slightly with pain. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  Kygo glanced around the ridge again. “Leave his body for the scavengers and bring the villager back for burial.” He gestured to me. “Come, Naiso.”

  I followed him down the narrow track. One of the soldiers on the beach had sliced into the long muscle of his thigh. Vida had efficiently stitched it, along with Yuso’s nasty shoulder gash and Dela’s slashed face, but she had no herbs that dulled pain. Kygo did not show it in face or manner, but the cant of his shoulders told me the injury stabbed with every step. Or perhaps it was the burden of Jun’s betrayal and the deaths of the fourteen villagers who had perished defending their young emperor.

  The black ash on the track muffled our footsteps. All the foliage on the bushes and trees around us was dusted with it, too, and the once-white beach below us was now gray. The tide was coming in with the setting sun, the water washing clean curves of white sand as it surged and ebbed. Master Tozay’s boat was due into harbor soon. The village fishing fleet had already returned, drawn back early by the sight of the fireball. The hollow-eyed shock of the men as they had landed on the beach and seen the damage to the higher sections of the village had briefly pierced even my numb armor.

  “For such a young man, this Jun had extraordinary spying skills,” Kygo said. “He must have woven a dense web of lies.”

  “In my experience, young men lie with great skill and ease,” I said dully.

  Kygo stopped and faced me. “It was not a lie, Eona.”

  I felt my gaze pulled to the pale shine of the pearl, half covered by his tunic collar. “What was it, then?”

  “It was me leading my army in the best way I know how.” He pressed his fingers along his eye sockets, rubbing away the strain. “Yes, I want you to control Ido’s power. But I swear it was never in my plan to ask you to break the Covenant and use the Mirror Dragon to kill. You and your dragon are our symbols of healing and renewal.” He crossed his arms. “And hope.”

  “I did it to save you.” If I said it enough times, maybe it would make me feel better.

  “I know. When I found out we were surrounded, my first thought was getting to you.” He reached out toward me but stopped, his hand dropping to his side. “You didn’t push Ido away.”

  The abrupt accusation broke through my protective shell. “What?”

  His jaw tightened. “He was on top of you, and you didn’t push him away.”

  I flushed. “I had just killed hundreds of men with power that comes from my Hua. You cannot understand what that fee
ls like—or what it takes from me.”

  “But he can.” Kygo looked out across the water. “You and he are bound by power. Are you bound to him by anything else?” His voice was without inflection, as though the answer did not matter.

  “What do you mean?” For a dizzying moment I thought he knew about the Hua of All Men. About the black folio.

  He turned his head, his face a polite mask. “Do you desire Lord Ido?”

  Relief—and uncertainty—made me hesitate a beat too long. “No!”

  His look of disbelief was like a punch to my chest.

  I stepped closer. “Kygo, you know Ido manipulates whenever he can. It is second nature to him. Please, do not let him come between us.” The pearl glowed within the edge of my vision.

  “Every time you are alone with him, it feels like you are moving further from me,” Kygo whispered.

  I shook my head in mute denial. He touched my face, the curve of his hand drawing me toward him. I closed my eyes and felt the soft press of his lips against mine. His hand shifted to the nape of my neck, guiding me closer against his mouth. I knew I should pull away—protect him—but I had to prove my certainty. To him. To me. We found the taste of each other at the same time; the sweet kiss forcing a soft sound of pleasure from him that shivered through my whole being. I laid my hands against his chest and felt the quick rhythm of his heart through the tunic.

  He pulled me against his body, his hand at the small of my back, holding me against his hips. I shifted, trying to meld even closer to his warmth, his taste, his smell. His breath caught as I jarred his thigh wound. I started to move away, apologize, but he followed and captured my mouth again, his hand sliding around my waist and pulling me back into his embrace. A beat thundered through me, a pulsing, driving rhythm that was in my body—and, I realized, in the base of my skull. The pearl. I gave a shake of my head, trying to stop the pressure. The draw was not strong; I could contain it.

  Kygo broke our kiss, the concern in his eyes holding back the desire. He’d misread the shake of my head. I brought my mouth to his again and felt him smile against my lips. The gentle press of his tongue parted my answering smile. His hand shifted from my nape to trace the curve of my throat and collarbone with exquisite slowness, his gentle touch leaving a path of pleasure across my skin.