“Lord Sandumas, please accept my most humble apology. One of my officers thought it prudent to have forces ready to defend the castle, but I’m sure that sent a horrible message. I assure you that Forlay considers you our greatest ally, and that the man responsible will be stripped of all rank and sent to an awful post in the distant north,” the King said as he stopped in front of me.

  “Just remember that I hold you responsible for what happens in Forlay,” I declared. My voice was much deeper in this form, and it seemed to echo off the walls.

  Before anything else could happen, both Galbrecht and Lisella came running. They didn’t bother saying anything to me as they came straight to Cami. Neither were in their normal armor or adventuring gear, so I could only assume that they had been relaxing.

  “Oh goddess, what happened to her?” Lisella asked, but she didn’t seem interested in my answer as she knelt down and stroked Cami’s hair.

  I explained the situation, as Cami had been growing weaker and I didn’t want her to wear herself out. I told the story without any embellishment and did my best not to focus on my combat genius or how I’d defeated the lich. Instead, I told them what had happened to Cami.

  Lisella agreed with Vox’s assessment. “I’ll need time to heal this. Can you let us take her back to my rooms where I can make her more comfortable?”

  I looked first at my mentor and then turned my head to Galbrecht. “Speak plainly, I trust you not to lie. Has Miseria given either of you any instructions which might harm Cami?”

  He seemed baffled, but said, “We have always been instructed that you are vital to this world and that we should protect you. Cami is our friend. She is more like a little sister to everyone in the party. As for myself, I would rather lose an eye than see any harm come to her. You have my word as a man, that I will protect her with my life.”

  I couldn’t help but note his wording. Every other oath I’d heard Galbrecht give was in Miseria’s name. The fact that he worded his oath like he did was telling. Yet when I looked into his eyes, I felt he’d used that wording to give me a deeper assurance.

  He knew I didn’t trust his goddess. Instead, he staked his oath on my belief in him. He was human, but the paladin had been the first to realize how deeply they had wronged dragonkind.

  The question was, how would his word hold out against his obligations to Miseria?

  Lisella said, “We don’t have time for this. We would never hurt Cami… and whatever you may think of Miseria, she really does care about people.”

  “Would she hesitate to use Cami as a way to get at me?” I asked. I shook my head. “No, I’m going with you.”

  Nagafen stepped forward. “Perhaps a compromise? I can escort Princess Lisella and the chosen of Miseria while sharing my insights into the damage Cami has sustained. I think it would be best for you and Vox to discuss matters of state with King Forlay.”

  The King was about to protest, but I had made a decision. I wanted to trust Galbrecht; I even wanted to trust Lisella. But Nagafen was a rider, and if I couldn’t trust a bonded dragon rider, then there was no human I could trust.

  “Very well.”

  As they left, Vox turned to King Forlay, “I suppose you have some questions for me, your Majesty.”

  Before the King could answer, the royal mage snapped, “Questions? He should be stringing you up. It isn’t every day that he gets a notification letting him know that one of his nobles betrayed her oath of fealty.”

  Then he glared at me, “And to make matters worse, you have given your oath to this upstart noble.”

  I snorted, raising up to my full height so that I towered over him.

  Lisella’s father stepped forward. “You are out of line, Sever. My brother never said any of those things. While he expressed concern over Vox’s choice, he would never say anything against our savior and newest ally.”

  “Or against the massive dragon standing over you. Look, I’m not a minion thief.” I shook my head. “Well, perhaps vassals are not the same thing as minions, but the same principle applies. There are, however, extenuating circumstances.”

  I looked over at Vox. “Back up and show them. Your former King deserves to know the truth.”

  “Yes, my liege.”

  She scooted back a good fifty feet till she was standing a decent distance from me, and far from the King and his attendants. I noted that the King had yet to speak, but seemed to be taking everything in. It would be a mistake to think he wasn’t angry, but his reaction in the next minute or so would tell me a great deal about how I’d have to deal with Forlay—and most likely other nations, as well.

  His eyes got very wide, as did those of Sever, the royal mage, and Lisella’s father, Duke Forlay, as well. The guards gripped their weapons tight and I think the lot of them simultaneously held their breath.

  Seconds later, Vox was standing next to me in her true form.

  “I offer my sincerest apologies for the deceit, King Forlay. Please understand that my service to you and your line was genuine. Forlay has been my home for a century now, and I have done my best to keep you all safe. I have a fondness for humans, but a higher loyalty has called to me.”

  The King finally spoke, “Nagafen?”

  “No. He is a human, though he is much older than he looks. He is my bonded rider, just as Cami is Nico’s rider.” Vox dipped her silver head. “He is also my husband. That part is very real, your majesty.”

  “Silver… I didn’t know there were silver dragons,” the King mumbled. Then he looked up at me, “What are you intentions now, Lord Sandumas?”

  I snorted. “That is a human title, given to me when your Emperor was trying to buy my help. Let me be clear, I am not one of your human nobles. I am a dragon and I will act as such. My intention at this time is to see that my bonded companion is healed. Then, I intend to collect all of the formerly enslaved dragons here in Forlay and fly to my lair with them.

  “From there, I intend to take up your Emperor’s offer of the land known as the Taleian desert. There I will create the Scale Nation. In the meantime, I will be collecting allies to achieve my immediate goals—which are the freeing of all dragons and driving the horrors from Ileria.” I paused, studying the King. “I hope that Forlay will become an ally.”

  Sever practically screeched, “You can’t take all the dragons with you! We won’t have enough forces to protect the border. Surely you saw what we…”

  His words ended in a gurgle when King Forlay swung his fist into the mage’s throat. He glared at the lump of a man who’d crumpled to the ground. “You are supposed to be the royal mage and an advisor, Sever. You don’t decide what Forlay will do. Security built upon slavery is a lie.”

  Then the King turned back to me and Vox. “I apologize… again. Sever is loyal to Forlay and an accomplished mage, but he has worried exceedingly about our ability to hold back the monsters’ incursions from the mountains.”

  He scowled at the cowering mage. “We will, of course, free the dragons. I only wish that we had known of the injustice sooner. Having met you, I can’t help but imagine that if we’d made allies instead of slaves of the dragons, that we would be far stronger for it.”

  Vox said, “I wouldn’t be so quick to assume. You may find that Nico and I are not representative of most dragons. I doubt many of them would make rain for you if you were on fire. They have little use for each other, and even less for other races. It will take my liege to show them the true danger which all of Ileria faces.”

  King Forlay didn’t seem to know what to say, so I spoke up. “I’d like to fly out as soon as Cami is healed. I propose an exchange of sorts. As recompense for taking one of your vassals, I’ll leave Vox and Nagafen here. They shall be ambassadors of Scale Nation to Forlay. Vox will be afforded all the honor a dragon is entitled to, but they will fight alongside your forces—as any true ally would. In return, you’ll send my mentor with us. I think she will prove helpful in my effort to restore the dragons.

  “You will do your best to have all the formerly enslaved dragons brought to the capital. As I don’t have time to round them all up, I will even consent to you allowing their pseudo-riders to bring them here. But after that happens, anyone who rides a dragon without their freely given consent will be my enemy.”

  I leaned down, “And you don’t want to be my enemy.”

  Interlude 3 - Healing

  Cami drifted in and out of consciousness. She was certain that she yet lived only because of the bond she shared with Nico. A portion of his strength was in her, and that had maintained her. Now, she was being repeatedly healed as her body tried to shut down. The damage to her spinal cord was worse than what they had initially suspected.

  She would have laughed, had she been able. Before training with Modessa, she hadn’t even known what a spinal cord was. Now, she’d been down for two weeks and they were only making slow progress. At one point yesterday, she’d been able to wiggle her toes on her right foot and it had given them all hope.

  When she lost the ability again, it had been a blow to her confidence. But Lisella assured her that they would prevail in the end. It was symptomatic of what she called ‘cascading system failures’.

  That sounded bad.

  Galbrecht hadn’t been in the room for more than a few minutes after the first three days. He had walked out, ranting about how he didn’t understand what Miseria was doing. Lisella tried to caution him to maintain his faith. Apparently, a paladin who lost their faith essentially lost their spells and class abilities.

  Cami wouldn’t know what to do if she lost those; they’d become a part of her. Yet she understood his frustration. It would have been nice if he could simply cast Miracle and restore her with a few words, but Miseria refused to answer his pleas.

  As angry as Galbrecht was, Nico was more furious still. He had threatened to fly to the heavens and fight the goddess. But it was just talk. She knew that, and Nico knew it—but if it made him feel better, then she’d listen to him talk. Just knowing that he cared that much did a great deal for her. She’d pointed out that Miseria was at least still allowing Lisella’s spells to work on her.

  There had been some tension between Lisella and Nico about what had happened before they’d hunted for the white dragon’s lair—the words that had been said. When she had the strength, Cami explained to the priestess that Nico didn’t mean to hurt her feeling, though Cami was secretly glad about how Nico had spoken to her and about her.

  Cami had definitely turned a corner. After her talk with Nagafen, she knew there was hope, and that she had time. She could be patient. It didn’t matter if it was a week or a century from now; she was certain that she and Nico were meant to be so much more than dragon and bonded rider.

  Of course, the sixteen-year-old girl in her romanticized it would be sooner rather than later.

  As for her healing, each day they made progress. Today, they were going to try to restore more of her spine. She only wished Nico were here. She felt selfish for wishing it, but her wish was true.

  He’d been at her bedside for most of the two weeks. He’d even laid on the bed and napped beside her. Her dragon sure liked his naps. Thinking about that quirk of his brought a smile to her lips.

  She remembered why he had departed. He had gone to gather more domesticated dragons. He was beyond frustrated with their behavior. Even after being freed from their collars, they didn’t act like he wanted. Some desired nothing more than to kill as many humans as they could—especially their former pseudo-riders—while others simply wanted to be left alone, fleeing into the wild.

  Nico had lamented to her about how he’d been forced time and again to beat them down to prove his dominance. It might have been laughably easy for him, but it still annoyed him. Today, he was off to collect the last of them. There were now thirty domesticated dragons outside the capital, and it would soon be time to get them moving.

  Cami sensed the tension in Nico as he worried whether Cami would be healed before he was forced to move the dragons. It was okay, though. He should be back any time.

  When Lisella walked in, she had a bright smile on her face.

  “I hope that look of yours means that you have an idea how to heal me,” Cami said.

  “I do. I’ve been alternately studying anatomy, researching new spells, and praying to my goddess. Human anatomy doesn’t explain what is wrong with you. I should have been able to regenerate your spinal cord, and you should have been up and walking a week ago. Which means I fear the problem is deeper than that.

  “My goddess gave me a hint and gifted me a new spell. I was surprised when, instead of a healing spell, she granted me a divination spell. I think she is saying that there is something more about your condition that I need to understand before I can properly heal you.”

  Cami forced a smile onto her face. She’d been raised to worship the gods. She believed they were far better than the horrors or the undead monstrosities they’d fought lately. But now, she also felt they couldn’t be trusted.

  “Okay… well, let’s do this. I’m tired of lying in bed.”

  Lisella smiled, then held her hands out over Cami as she began chanting a long spell. The length of a spell wasn’t enough in and of itself to tell what tier it was, but a general rule of thumb was the higher the tier, the longer a spell took to cast.

  And this one took a great deal of time.

  What was strange, was that while Cami couldn’t see magic like Nico could, she sensed something about this spell. It tingled within her in two markedly different ways. Her Soul Forger class told her that this spell was searching for something which had touched upon her soul, not just her body. Likewise, her Elemental Valkyrie class, which was concerned with the passage from life to death, told her that the spell also walked that line.

  Lisella’s body shook. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she suddenly floated into the air on the currents of magic. The spell continued on for several more minutes even after the priestess’s chanting stopped. When it ended, Lisella dropped to the floor, yelping when she hit the ground.

  Cami liked the woman, but she was too pretty and perfect at times, and there was a certain satisfaction in seeing her dumped on her rump.

  Lisella quickly popped back up to her feet and said, “Wow, it isn’t often that I have to cast a spell that complicated, at the ninth tier. But I think I see what’s happening now. When Nico grabbed you, his body was cursed, wasn’t it?”

  Cami nodded.

  “And that curse had something to do with undeath. It was working its way into his bones but was also trying to infect his soul. He resisted it and eventually fed it to oblivion. Unfortunately, it seems a tiny sliver of it crossed into you through the physical connection when he grabbed you, combined with the bond which connects your souls.”

  Cami gasped. “Does that mean that Nico is in danger?”

  Lisella sat on the edge of the bed and laid a hand on Cami’s legs. “That says a lot about you, Cami. Here you are, paralyzed in bed, and yet your first concern was for Nico. You two really do belong together. Which brings up something I should have said sooner. I really have no excuse for not doing this already, other than I guess my bruised pride.”

  Cami sat up a bit more.

  “I shouldn’t have flirted with Nico—even less so after I learned about his true nature. It is hard to be snubbed, even looked down upon, when you’re used to having everyone stare at you in adoration.” She sighed. “But I suppose it was good for me.”

  Cami wanted to roll her eyes, but she maintained control. Was this supposed to be an apology?

  “Anyway, I won’t apologize to him because I don’t think I owe him one. But at some point, I realized that you and he have something more than just the bond of dragon and rider. I doubt he has any clue, but I’ve seen see how he looks at you. He is protective of you in a way that he isn’t even of his gold.

  “So, I guess what I’m trying and failing to say… is that I’m sorry for trying to get between you and Nico. I won’t do anything like that ever again and will support you in any way that I can. Will you please forgive me?”

  Cami reached her hand, brushing it against the side of Lisella’s face. Then her fingers curled tightly into a fist as she grabbed a handful of the woman’s oh-so-perfect golden blonde hair. Before the priestess had a chance to squawk, Cami jerked the woman’s head forward and slapped her elbow into Lisella’s pert upturned nose.

  The satisfaction Cami got from the crunch of the cartilage breaking in her nose was only secondary to that from the priestess’s scream of pain.

  When Cami blinked her eyes, she realized she’d had a bit of a daydream, and for a brief moment she considered making it reality. She bit her tongue to scold herself, then realized the woman was still sitting there, waiting for an answer.