Maija walked out onto the deck and dropped into a fighting stance. Anders watched as she moved through a practiced routine of positions her sister had taught her.
“Not bad,” he said. “You look a little rusty, but I’m impressed.”
Maija bounced up, grinning at him. Anders tossed the scabbard to the blade at her and she caught it with one hand. Gently, she guided the sword back into its protective sheathing. Unraveling the belt from the decorative leather scabbard, Maija strapped the belt onto her waist and followed Anders back inside the shed. Next, they found Maija a set of riding armor; given the fit, it must’ve belonged to her mother. The padded leather was of the same style that Anders had been given when they’d started their training. The material moved freely and allowed dragonriders to move quickly during battle. Since this had belonged to her mother, Maija fit into the suit as if had been tailored just for her.
Together they hauled out the largest saddle in the tack room. When they fitted it on Raffa, he dwarfed the leather seat. After adding cinch straps from three other saddles, they were able to harness the seat securely onto his back. Putting up less of a fight than Zahara had initially, Raffa only commented that he didn’t like it, but since the contraption would make riding safer for Maija, he was willing to put up with it.
In the shed Anders found other riding tools that he hadn’t known existed, many of which he could only guess at their uses. He and Maija continued to search through the tack until Zahara notified them that Nadir and his soldiers were approaching. As Anders and Maija walked to the front of the house, he wondered how many dragons would let someone saddle them if they hadn’t yet bonded.
Nadir and the Norfolk woman led a line of elves along the cliff edge. The elf king motioned for his soldiers to halt. He and the youthful elder approached.
Nadir spoke freely as he approached them. “It’s brilliant!” he exclaimed looking to Anders and Maija. When Anders looked confused, Nadir continued, “The way the crystals can store power and be altered to serve a specific purpose. I’ve already told Natalia what to do.”
“Is she in the city yet?” Anders asked.
Nadir nodded, “She’s made it into the castle and is searching for Ivan.”
“Is he there? Can she sense him?” Anders asked.
Nadir shook his head, “She’s still searching. We walked her through the process of what she needs to do to corrupt the crystals. If she accomplishes this, the power source will be altered and when Merglan tries to use it, it won’t go in his favor.”
Anders stiffened, worried that Ivan had not yet been located, but refocused as he asked, “So she told you how they work?”
“Yes, it’s about knowing how to tap into the crystal’s chemical structure,” Zorna interjected. “If you know how to identify the type of silica within the crystals, you can work a spell to alter its structure. By altering these unique crystals, one can fuel the attributes you desire into them, harnessing and storing specific magical properties.”
“So, you need magic to manipulate the crystal?” Anders asked.
“Yes, identifying the crystal’s properties isn’t something you can see or touch, it must be felt with a different sense. In my research, I found that if I sensed the crystal’s structure and found its meaning in the ancient language, the crystal would act as a vessel and take on the properties I willed into it,” she said.
“How do you know it will work for Natalia, or any of us?” Maija asked.
“When I was learning the ways of magic, after I first bonded with my dragon…”
“You’re bonded?” Anders interrupted.
“You saw me use the energy from your crystal yourself,” she said to Anders. “How else would I be magical?”
“Well, you said you were learning a way for the non-bonded to access the dragon’s power source,” he said.
“That’s right. Learning, not knowing. Anyway, I spent years reading and searching through our ancestors’ documents. I worked tirelessly for ways to expand our abilities into other applications. As a result of my search, I found scripts dating back to those who were first to bond. I actually read the journal of the first rider. She explained her dragon’s recollection of how magic was brought to our world with the first dragons. The dragons of old spoke to the stones and injected energy into them for later use. The journal drove me and my dragon to search through the ancient language. We wanted to discover how to access the capabilities of the different crystals. That’s when I came up with that diagram. Its intent was to teach other riders how to use the crystals so non-bonded races could share in the crystals’ powers if need be.”
Not knowing exactly where to start with the million or more questions racing through his mind, Anders decided to focus on the current dilemma for now. He turned to Nadir, “How much time do we have until the Council figures out what we’re doing?”
“Before we’re stuck in Cedarbridge, or the prison, for the foreseeable future?” Nadir asked.
Anders nodded.
“They could already know. I’ve sent most of those willing to follow me to wait for us at the riders’ facility.”
Walking to Zahara and climbing into his saddle, Anders said, “The sooner we’re out of here, the better it will be for the cause.” He directed his gaze to the Norfolk woman, “Do you share the speed of the elves?” When she shook her head, Anders offered, “You can ride with me. Our discussions about the crystals will have to wait.” He lowered an arm and helped the childlike woman up onto Zahara’s back.
Maija followed Anders and hoisted herself up into her new saddle, shifting to get comfortable in her new seat. Nadir nodded to them and walked swiftly back toward the line of elves waiting along the cliff. As Anders glanced over his shoulder to tell Zorna to hold on tight for takeoff, he saw the elves disappear in a flash.
Making their way swiftly to the dragonrider facilities, Zahara landed in the grassy clearing near the riders’ secret city entrance. Anders saw the host of redshirt elves mixed with soldiers from the army emerging from the forest. He didn’t see Nadir and his guard and knew they’d be approaching soon.
Anders jogged to the edge of the clearing and spoke the words to open the riders’ entrance. As the gateway to the unprotected world opened, they could hear the gale force winds just outside the door. He watched the soldiers and armed red-shirted individuals funnel through the exit, leaving the city’s protective layer. As the last of the redshirts cleared the exit, Anders saw Nadir’s guard run across the open field. Nadir followed in the back with several robed elves in pursuit. They caught up to Anders in a heartbeat, Nadir nodding for them to follow the soldiers exiting into the storm.
Maija, Raffa, Zahara and Anders stepped through, the Norfolk woman close behind. Anders looked back through the door to see Nadir standing in the opening with his back to them. The Elf King faced three Council members, blades in their hands. One of them called out to him, “You step through that door and you’ll never be king again!”
Nadir shouted over the howling wind, “You stop me, and this war will never end! I’m going to do what my father couldn’t, bring Merglan to justice!”
The Council members’ shouts were silenced when Nadir stepped through the door. Anders closed it on them behind Nadir.
“To the Bays!” Nadir shouted, rallying his soldiers.
Anders watched as Nadir’s rebel army took off south around the city, heading full speed toward the trails that would lead them to the Glacial Melt Bays. He turned to see Maija staring up at the dark cloud blotting out the night sky.
“What is it?” he asked.
She shook her head, “I’m not sure. I thought I just heard something.”
“Probably the muffled shouts of those elves through the barrier,” Anders suggested.
He mounted Zahara and looked to the spot where Maija had been looking. He couldn’t hear what she had heard, but he did feel the same strange feeling he’d felt as they entered the elven city. Chalking it up to the storm and his uneasy feeling about Zorna, the Norfolk woman, Anders helped her onto Zahara once again and bounced along on Zahara as she trotted along the forest floor. The winds were too powerful for them to fly.
Merglan eyed the treetops, sensing the movement of elves rushing through the forest below. He turned in his saddle as Killdoor hovered above the storm, “We’ll keep our distance, but be ready to strike when I give the order,” he said to the rider at his side dressed in black.
