Born of Blood (The Valdir Chronicles Book 3) Page 21

  “I missed you so much.” She was practically sobbing now, but she swallowed it down as best she could. Maska snaked his head around her, cocooning her momentarily in warmth.

  “I missed you too, Littling.”

  Sudden shouting echoed through the building and Kalina jumped back from Maska as they heard soldiers pouring in through the open door on the other side. Kalina turned panicked eyes to Lord Illeron.

  “Everyone mount up! Now!” She shouted, launching herself onto Maska’s bareback, clinging to the long spines that protruded from his neck. She stretched down and offered the Emberweed to Maska who swallowed it whole, the rumbling starting in his belly.

  “What about Delisa?” Kari screamed at her from a few dragons over, her purple Yurok leaking smoke from his massive jaws.

  “I’m sorry,” Kalina said, her heart shattering inside her. They wouldn’t be able to save Delisa. Not now anyway. Perhaps they could make a second rescue attempt. Kari’s faced hardened and she turned away. Kalina turned back to Lord Illeron and reached a hand for him but he looked up at her and then down at the torch in his hand.

  “Go. Now. I will delay them.”

  Before Kalina could scream at him to get on, to not be stupid, that they could burn their own way out, Lord Ademar Illeron turned and disappeared into the hallway, torch held out to the side, igniting the boards around him as he ran headfirst into the oncoming soldiers.

  Chapter 35

  Kalina screamed as Maska, along with his fellow dragons around him, reared up. Maska opened his jaws and flame rocketed out of his mouth onto the wooden beams above. Kalina covered her head from falling debris as he and the other dragons shouldered their way out through the rapidly weakening roof. Kalina was coughing, her lungs full of smoke. Through the haze and fire she could see soldiers pouring into the long room, bows held aloft. But small bows like the ones they carried had no effect on thick dragon scales, and the projectiles bounced harmlessly off as Maska ripped down a massive beam and climbed up through a hole in the eyrie roof.

  Kalina held on for dear life, dragging in grateful gulps of clean, cold night air as they sat for a moment atop the building, Maska stretching out cramped wings before launching into the sky. She could see Leif and Arikara a few dozen feet away doing the same, and a bit farther on, Kari and Yurok getting ready to take flight. Sunniva, Astrid, and Dag had mounted Jormungand’s red dragon, Asa’s light blue one, and Gyda’s grey dragon. Together, they all winged into the sky above Winterreach castle. Gaining altitude, Kalina could see the Askorian soldiers below preparing their war machines and catapults for an aerial assault. But they were soaring away east now and would be out of range within moments.

  “Stay east until the edge of the forest, and then turn north to the glacier. There is a camp there of Vanir, my ancient ancestors,” Kalina explained to Maska as they flew. She told him of all that had happened while she’d been gone and he told her about his capture. On the night she and Simen had returned to the castle, the dragons’ evening venison had been drugged with valerian and he and the other dragons had fallen into a deep sleep. When they’d awoken, they’d been chained. He made no mention of torture of any kind, but through the deep magic that ran between them, she could sense his immense sadness, his pain. Anger stirred within her. She would make the King of Askor pay for his crimes against her, her dragon, and her country. She would avenge all those she had lost since she’d first discovered she was Valdir.

  “Good. Hold on to that anger, sister. Use it to fight.”

  A voice broke through Kalina’s imaginings of tearing the King limb from limb. She turned to see Sunniva flying beside her on Jormungand’s red dragon Shania. The Vanir’s own blue eyes ablaze with the same hatred and anger as her own. She nodded to the Vanir leader, before glancing back at the scattered line of dragons flying behind them in the night sky. With an aerial legion at their back, Ethea attacking from the west, and maybe Ablen attacking from the east, they just might have a chance. Kalina stoked the anger inside her and a ferocious smile played across her lips.

  It was a happy reunion all around when they landed in the Vanir village just as the sun rose over the horizon. Halvor was waiting for them when they landed and Kalina’s heart sank when she saw his eyes roving over their faces hungrily, especially when he saw Shania. Kalina put a hand on his shoulder as he passed, knowing there was nothing she could say to fix the situation. She stayed by Maska’s side, leading him further into the camp to where Eira stood with Osian in her arms beside Torill’s fire.

  “Anyone hurt?” she asked, looking over their shoulders towards the others. “Were you able to free anyone?” Kalina shook her head and sat on the ground heavily, Maska flopping to the cold earth behind her. As Kari approached, Eira gave her daughter a fierce hug.

  “We weren’t able to free anyone but the dragons. And I don’t know what happened to Lord Illeron,” Kalina said her voice choking on the words, filling Eira in. Ademar. His name kept echoing in her head. She put her head into her hands and wept, the sudden torrent of emotion brought on by a night of no sleep and too much excitement and stress. She had already lost so many men. Could she stand to lose more in a war?

  A gentle arm around her shoulder made her look up through her tears at Eira who crouched beside her. Osian was perched on the older woman’s hip, chewing on one of Eira’s long braids. Kalina smiled at her aunt’s warmth, along with Osian’s beloved face. She reached out to take her brother and bounced him on her lap for a moment, before hugging him to her. At least she had him. She was fighting this war for him, and other children like him who wanted to live in a time of peace. She would have to make sure she won.

  Kalina paced the long stretch of wood floor between two massive tables in the long hall of the Vanir camp. The last of the Valdir had arrived, each dragon carrying at least one Ethean soldier on its back across the mountains, adding a small ground force to the one they already had. The final clan of the Vanir arrived not long afterward for the Gunnlaug, filling the small valley to the brim.

  The Gunnlaug was a large meeting, usually held at important times when every head of clan was needed to make decisions. It began with a large banquet full of drinking and celebrating, allowing the clans to come back together and catch up with one another. Kalina and the Valdir joined in but she was a little overwhelmed by the noise and boisterous nature of the Gunnlaug. She remembered her own Valdir celebration experiences being a bit tamer in comparison.

  The door to the hall banged open and everyone turned to look as a huge Vanir with a long braided silver beard stepped inside. He grinned around at them all before striding purposefully to a seat beside Sunniva.

  “Sunniva, how good to see you!” he boomed, clapping her hard on the back. “I see your little clan has been doing well.”

  Kalina watched as Sunniva stiffened in her seat.

  “Greyson. Glad you could join us,” she ground out through her teeth. Greyson grinned.

  “You know I can never resist a Gunnlaug!” He surveyed the gathered Valdir and Vanir still grinning. “And who are these lovely newcomers?” He winked at Kalina. She scowled slightly. She couldn’t decide whether she liked his brusque personality or not.

  “This is Queen Kalina of the Valdir and Ethea. These are her entourage.” Sunniva then introduced Kari, Leif, and Eira. Greyson nodded all around. Finally, he turned back to Sunniva.

  “So, why am I here? Why did you drag me all the way from my mountain home for a Gunnlaug?”

  “The Valdir are our brethren, our cousins, our friends. They are going to war against Askor and would like to ask us to join.” Sunniva said, standing up to look the large Vanir in the face. “So you will sit, and give them your attention.”

  Greyson smirked at Sunniva but sat anyway, turning to look at Kalina expectantly. She drew in a breath and began explaining why they needed the Vanir’s help. When she finished, she put her hands on the big table before her.

  “And so I ask you, will you join us in a war against Ask
or?” She searched each face around the table in the gathering hall, looking for allies among them.

  “Leave us to talk it over,” Sunniva said with a polite nod to Kalina. The Queen of the Valdir stood and left the hall with her entourage in tow. While they waited for the Vanir to decide, Kalina leaned against Maska who lay outside the lodge, curled into a small ball in the freezing snow. That was something Kalina had begun to notice. The Vanir’s dragons were specially equipped to live in colder climates. They tended to be larger-bodied than her dragons, and somehow were able to regulate their body temperatures better than the Valdir dragons could. So there was Maska, curled up like a cat trying to stay warm. She felt a twinge of sadness for him.

  A last the door to the gathering hall opened and Sunniva beckoned them inside. When they’d finally taken their seats, the Valdir waited in anticipation for the Vanir to deliver their answer. Finally, Sunniva spoke.

  “The Snowy Owls will join.” Her conviction evident in her voice, her beautiful face determined.

  “The Black Wolves will join,” Greyson said beside her. The Black Wolves were a northern tribe of Vanir from up by Crystalmount and the Ice Gulf to the north.

  Soon after, all the other clans joined. The White Bears, the Red Foxes, the Brown Elks, the Blue Dragons, and the Golden Eagles. Each leader spoke up, pledging their fighters to her cause. Kalina had to fight to hold back tears as hope flooded her chest.

  There wasn’t a place you could go to be alone anymore. In the hall around her, the heads of each clan and her own council members gathered for a war council. Kalina’s own army was only days away from making landfall south of Winterreach in Askor’s Riverlands. Aerial scouting had revealed that the Askorian army was arrayed north of the city, in a vast sea of white tents. So Kalina had instructed Rangvald to land the army to the south, making their way up the rivers and waterways until they could go no farther, and then march inland where they would meet up with her aerial legion. She had also learned from one of the other Vanir clans that a second army, almost as large as the first was stationed north of Stonewell on the eastern coast of Askor. The plan was set, it was solid. So why was her stomach in knots?

  The doors to the hall banged open and a Valdir messenger that she recognized strode in, removing fur-lined gloves from his hands, and unwrapping a cloth from around his face. She had sent him to Ablen on her behalf in the desperate hope that they would help by attacking the eastern coast. He gave her a small bow.

  “Report, Kalern,” Kalina said, anxiety churning in her gut.

  “The King and Queen of Ablen sent their regards and their support. They are happy to have Ethea as an ally, and their ships are now poised to attack the eastern coast of Askor at your command. They will land in Stonewall within a few hours once they’ve received word.”

  Kalina’s heart lightened. If they could manage to split Askor’s forces, then it would stop them from getting bottle-necked and fighting a war on two sides.

  “Very well. Once you’ve rested, please fly back and instruct them to attack with all haste. We must try to keep that half of his army occupied.”

  The messenger nodded and bowed to her, heading back out the doors. Kalina finally sat down, Eira on one side of her and Kari on the other. Now was the time to make the final decisions.

  “We need an advantage. We have the dragons, yes, but they have catapults that can shoot fiery rocks into the air. If we aren’t careful, if someone gets distracted, they will die.” She remembered all too well Geir’s death. He was Leif’s father, her second in command, and her own father’s best friend. He had been killed by a catapult when he had failed to swerve mid-air. She didn’t want the same thing to happen now to more people and dragons. “Back home we have something called Emberweed. My Valdir have brought our entire supply.”

  “What is Emberweed?” Sunniva asked for the benefit of the other leaders. She had seen it in use during the rescue, but the other chief’s had never heard of it.

  “It is a weed that once dried and consumed by a dragon, mixes with the acids in their stomach to allow them to breathe fire.”

  “I thought that was a myth, some silly legend we told our baby dragons?” Astrid said, a small smile on her face. “It can’t be real?”

  “Would you like me to demonstrate?” Kalina asked, excitement finally beginning to replace the worry and fear in her chest.

  “Absolutely.” Sunniva stood, the other clan leaders followed, and together they crossed the threshold to the outdoors. Maska and many of the other dragons waited outside in the cold, curled in on themselves like enormous cats. The Valdir’s dragons were not quite built for the extreme colds, not like the ice dragons that the Vanir rode, and they sometimes had trouble regulating their body temperature. Kalina wasn’t built for this climate either, and she pulled her wolf skin cloak tighter around her as they waited for a young Valdir to fetch a small packet of the Emberweed. Finally, when he returned, Kalina held it up to Maska.

  “Want to give them a little show?” She asked, grinning mischievously. Maska opened his mouth in a toothy smile back and took the packet from her hand, swallowing it whole.

  Within a few moments, his belly began to glow like the deep center of a forge fire. He rumbled for a moment before belching flame ten feet long into the night sky above them. Sunniva and the other Vanir gasped, stepping back, their faces lit by the Dragonfire. Maska kept the flame going for a few minutes before letting it die, his belly considerably darker when he finished. He let out a few smaller bursts of flames and then there was no more.

  “The riders will carry pouches with them, to be fed to their dragons while fighting. If we target their war machines, their command tents, weapons, and supplies, then perhaps we will have a chance. They outnumber us four or five to one, even with Ablen and all of Ethea at our backs. We are few but we are mighty!”

  Sunniva grinned at her, the other clan leaders smiling behind her, looks of awe on their faces. Sunniva took her own ax from her belt and held it aloft for all to see.

  “To war!” she exclaimed, the Vanir and Valdir cheering in response.

  That night they sat around a large bonfire as the Vanir played songs; eerie and melancholic tunes from strange flutes and drums rose into the darkness above, echoing off the branches overhead. Kalina sat back against Maska’s warm side, her face to the fire, with Osian asleep on her chest. This was the calm before the storm, and she knew it. So she took every moment she could to savor it. In a week she would be knee-deep in gore on a battlefield instead of warm by a fire with her brother. She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and looked up to see Leif watching her from across the orange and yellow flames. His eyes were intense, but soft at the same time, and when he noticed her staring back, he nodded to her. It felt as though something had shifted then, but Kalina didn’t quite know what.

  Chapter 36

  The Riverlands south of Winterreach were bitterly cold, the wind howling across the open plains, causing tents to flap, banners to snap and campfires hard to keep lit. Kalina paced back and forth in the large command tent, surrounded by her council and the seven Vanir clan chiefs. They all stood around, eating and drinking, and waiting. Five days ago Ablen had attacked the eastern coast, drawing King Blackbourne’s eastern forces into battle. Now her own regiments were due to land any moment now, the waiting feeling interminable. Once the full force of her army arrived, they were to march on Winterreach Castle, and hopefully defeat the King, end the war, and rescue her incarcerated people.

  A shout went up from the direction of the river. Rangvald's ships had been sighted. Kalina looked to Leif who stood nearby, and together they strode from the tent. The camp around them was sprawling, numbering in the thousands and filled almost entirely with Vanir, dragons, and Valdir. They had left their small Ethean ground force back at the Vanir camp to protect it, while all able-bodied Vanir came to fight. And now there were huge deep-water galley’s sailing up the center of the river, where it was deepest and widest. It would be a challenge offl
oading all the soldiers and supplies.

  Kalina organized multiple dragons and riders to start ferrying people over to the northern shore from each ship. She could see at first glance that Rangvald had brought the entire Ethean army. There were dozens of ships, all flying the crossed swords on a green field banner. She hadn’t even known that many ships existed in the Ethean armada.

  When she spotted Rangvald's silver hair among the disembarking Etheans alongside his burnt orange dragon Una she ran to meet her cousin. She flung herself into his arms, and startled he took a step back, laughing over her shoulder to Leif and Kari who watched.

  “I’ve missed you, cousin,” Kalina said in his ear before pulling away to look at his face. His handsome face and blue eyes so like her own were more lined, more careworn than the last time she’d seen him when she’d sent him to get control of her army. Looking around them it seemed he’d done a good job.

  “Where’d you get all the ships?” Kari asked, on her tip-toes and looking down the river.

  “Well, I called in a favor with Wostrad. They were willing to loan ships, but not military might. So they sent these with minimal crews north where we boarded and made all haste here.”

  “How many men did you bring?” Leif asked, stepping forward to clasp Rangvald's hand.

  Kari came and gave her brother a fierce hug before he could answer. Finally, Rangvald turned and pointed down the shore of the river.

  “The big galleys hold about two hundred men. Each smaller one holds between fifty to one hundred fifty men. All told I’ve brought the entirety of the current standing Ethean army, numbering about four thousand.”

  Kalina bit her lip, doing mental math. That meant their combined army stood at around six thousand. But all reports from her spies told her that King Blackbourne had an army of well over ten thousand. And that was just here at the castle, not including the force to the east. That was almost a two-to-one odds. And would the dragons along with the Emberweed, what little they had, be enough to tip the scales? She had to hope so.