Part 4

The Dawn Stone

Changing, shifting, darkest fear,

leeching parasite of life,

I dub thee Shadow, hovering near,

bringer of both hate and strife.

Ancient cloud of deep injustice

of pasts so deep and bold,

please now shed thy carapace

return to love of old.

Fill my heart with happiness

if not in my life’s sight,

for even in the deepest darkness

there is always light.

~ from ‘Ode to the Zara’

(collections of surviving arts of Alti)

“Of all magics, enhancement comes easiest to nearly all magic users. Enhancement magic simply refers to the ability to use magic to strengthen the body, whether to harden bone and muscle, form a defensive barrier across the skin, or enhance the function of sensory organs. It is generally, also, among the safest of magics if not used in excess.”

~ Bek Trent, M.A.S.O

Over the next couple of weeks, Seijelar became Silver’s inseparable companion. Between the wolf and the little dragon, it became impossible to go anywhere unescorted, and the feverish joy that the hatching of the eggs had instilled among the cavern dwellers did not seem to ebb in the slightest. It was caused, Silver was told, by the little dragons’ magic, and by the whispers and murmurings of legends she knew nothing about.

At the center of the legends was a land called Alti. That was all Silver knew, at first, which left her to wrestle alone with what the ice bird had said to her. When she finally brought her concerns to Zien, she was forced to likewise wrestle with the alpha of the tree wolves; Zien seemed unsurprised when Silver shared what she had been told about the Zara, but was merely interested in retrieving the Dawn Stone. The alpha even went so far as to suggest that they avoid conflict with the beast of shadows, and appeared reluctant to send the hatchling dragons anywhere near the castle. Whether the hatchlings would go or not remained a topic of debate throughout the caverns, and the debate shifted as the tiny dragons outgrew their initial clumsiness.

At a mere week of age the two had already outstripped the wolf in height. Nearly all of Seijelar’s time was spent in the nest set aside by the nightwings for the hatchlings’ adoptive mother, or with Silver and the wolf. Every day, the jishereanal happa – or Guardian, as Zien called the bird – cleaned the small dragons’ scales until they shone, and the wolf was as agreeable as could be expected, acting as a babysitter for Seijelar when the ice bird had to hunt. Huddled within the warmly lit confines of the nightwings’ caverns, one could nearly forget the howling winds that rocked the mountain by night.

Almost.

The mark the Zara had left on the caverns, meanwhile, remained. There was considerable damage to both the mountain and the surrounding forest, and of course, there were many wounded. There did not seem to be any healers among the beasts. Since Silver had displayed her healing ability in saving Biarn, she was called upon to heal the wounds inflicted by the Zara. With some, she was successful despite her inexperience - it helped that Bek hovered over her work, commenting astutely on the things she missed. With others, there was nothing she could do. Something in the Zara’s cursed magic acted against her own.

Thus, she watched some of the nightwings die slow and excruciating deaths, while others slowly recovered seemingly without her intervention. What caused some to die and others to live was a baffling mystery known only to the Zara. The wolf curled up with her when she cried herself to sleep some nights, exhausted and haunted by her failures.

Those long days within the caverns wore on Silver, feeding her restlessness; she reasoned with herself that she was powerless in the face of her circumstances, and could do nothing but wait till the beasts were prepared to move with her. Nonetheless, she could not ignore the looming threat of the Zara. He was a constant and weighing nightmare that lurked in every of the cavern’s shadows. A part of her hoped he would leave the castle before their preparations were complete, and another was terrified he would slip away. It was hard, most days, to decide which she feared more.

Her sole consolation was that she had no time to relax. When she was not trying to heal the wounded, Bek insisted that she practice what magic he could teach her, along with a great deal of theory that she supposed might be useful at some point in her life. She learned, in this way, that Bek could use Cara’s rope very aptly, bring forth fire from thin air, and sometimes even fashion water into near-transparent weapons after drawing it from a pool in the depths of the caverns. His lean, he finally told her, was electromancy, but that did not seem to stop him from doing things that seemed to have no bearing in electricity whatsoever. In fact, her sense grew, day by day, that he was not just someone who knew how to use magic – he was probably one of the better magic users she would meet. It was possible he was even some sort of genius.

Whatever his skills in magic, they did not extend to teaching. Bek struggled to impress on her how to strengthen herself with her own magic, observing that she had very little aptitude for focusing her power. He routinely reminded her, when she became stuck on one of his puzzling lessons, to use her surroundings rather than try to create objects from magic alone. He lamented her lack of control, and attempted to drill into her the importance of magic capacity. Magical exhaustion, he reminded her again and again, was a very real and imminent threat for a newbie like her. Better control could be obtained, she gathered, only through practice.

And they did practice. Side by side, with the wolf and Biarn and the hatchling dragons as spectators, they practiced spell after spell. First, boil water. Lift it. Freeze it. Form shapes with it. Draw a circle and put it in the center, then use the circle to focus – and…Silver never really made it past the lifting portion of things, so she was not sure what came next. A few times, she made her water form something sort of mushy, but it just would not freeze. Usually, it then exploded everywhere, drenching them all. Somewhere along the way, Silver learned to throw up a decent barrier as well – something that Bek made her practice by asking that the nightwings drop items randomly on her head as they flew overhead throughout the day. After earning a good number of bruises and several baths, she was adept at it.

Zien appeared during their lessons every once and while, waiting to help them lay their schemes. Those were the times the alpha was most open to Silver’s questions about the legends the beasts seemed to cling to, and spoke of everything from the land of Alti to the Stones themselves. All of the beasts’ tales took place long ago, when humans had not yet gained the powers of flight or steam, when science tottered still in its infancy, when magic had been the fuel of home and hearth alike. Then, war in Alti had been ever present on the horizon, borne of the conflict between men and beasts. The tree wolf informed her that some humans had fought their own, a Silver was, in a sense, doing. The beasts distrusted the humans, but chose champions among them regardless, guided by the vampires. Factions of humanity splintered from the greater whole – an episode made confusing in Zien’s tellings by the wolves’ fluid hierarchy. Every attempt at peace faltered. Bloody conflict laid ruins to Alti, but eventually, an Agreement was forged between men and beasts. The Stones were a mark of that agreement. They passed into the safekeeping of the beasts, and there remained through the long centuries, while Alti and its legends were forgotten.

When their lessons were done and Silver’s questions momentarily exhausted – a thing that happened whenever Zien revealed some new detail for her to mull over – the alpha would guide her and Bek deeper into the caverns. While the dragons curled up to sleep at their sides, Silver, Bek, the wolf, and several tree wolves settled in a secluded area where water burst from the wall and roared into a waiting pool below. The beasts did not have a name for the pool or the secluded region of the caverns, so far as Silver knew. It was certainly remarkable enough to have one. The pool was incredibly clear, its waters glacial. Bands of luminescent stone beneath the water silhouetted the veridian caps of mushrooms the size of her fist, with gills the color of honeydew. There was even a breeze in the room, which issued from some dark tunnel in the ceiling that neither she nor the tree wolves could ever explore. Rather than smelling of bat, it made the space smell faintly sweet.

There they planned their moves against the Zara with increasingly clarity, until a plan had formed that possibly, hopefully, could work – Silver knew they could do nothing but believe that it would. They would certainly lose in a contest of magic. To use physical attacks against the Zara was apparently useless, since even piercing one in the heart would not kill it unless enough magic was directed through the blade in that instant that it disrupted the Zara’s own power. What remained was only to isolate the Zara who had stolen the Dawn Stone, weaken him, and seal his vast power long enough to steal the Stone back – something they had to do with only the meager tools they had on hand. These included the scales the wolf had brought to her when they first met, Cara’s rope, and a MASO standard issue dagger. The dagger was inlaid with a small and apparently common stone that allowed magic to be transfused into the blade, making it just slightly better than a plain old dagger.

For the plan to work, they would not need any of the beasts’ magics, which Zien insisted must be the case. The beasts could not step foot in the so-called Castle of Divides. Most were reluctant to even go near it. Zien also made clear that the plan was only to be used if they could not get the Stone and get away from the Zara without fighting.

Silver liked the plan because, if it went off without a hitch, she would have a chance at killing the Zara while he was in a weakened state. She knew what Bek thought of the plan without asking. He listened to every aspect of it intently, interjecting facts as if out of duty rather than any real interest in its success. Usually, he sat staring blankly at the veined cavern walls while stroking Skourett’s head, frowning slightly, bronze eyes stormy. Sometimes, he glared at Zien. He had never wanted Silver to take the Stone in the first place. She had the impression he did not want her to try to get it back. What he did want her to do was less clear. Maybe, since he never said anything to her about it, it was not exactly clear to him, either.

Finally, after nearly two weeks spent living and training within the caverns, Silver felt she could not wait any longer. She lay staring at the rocky ceiling, stiff, sore, and with the distinct flavor of dirt in her mouth. Alien sounds issue down from the gloom overhead, and things moved there, just out of sight. The wolf slept, and so did the dragon. They had none of her restlessness. They did not suffer the nightmares that had chased her from a deep sleep, leaving sweat to chill on her forehead and chest.

Silver shivered. There was no doubt in her mind that she had dreamt of the Zara.

Half asleep, she forced herself up and made her way to a shallow drinking pool in the nightwings’ chamber. The wolf came with her, alert despite the early hour. Seijelar huffed and then curled around her neck, rumbling softly and peering at the giant bats overhead. Silver was leaned over to wash her face when she felt the pressure of Seijelar’s sharp claws against her shoulder. Abruptly thereafter, the little dragon toppled over sideways, entangling itself in her coat to keep from tumbling to the floor. This was a common occurrence, since the hatchling’s wings were still far too large for its body, but Silver was too distracted trying not to fall over to notice when Skourett dove past her, splashing everything within a meter of the pool with ice-cold water.

Now dripping from her face and hair, she turned to see Bek walking up to the other side of the pool. He was glaring at the striped dragon, who was flaunting its excessive love of water. The little dragon glared back, golden bronze eyes closed to slits. Seijelar chirped angrily.

“You told him to do that,” Silver accused Bek, starting to towel the water off with the inside of her coat, and shooing Seijelar off when it tried to climb back up to her shoulders. Now the dragon chirped angrily at her as well.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Bek answered, still watching his own hatchling, who had begun to paddle slowly around the clear pool. Skourett looked, in that instant, very much like an exotic, winged species of crocodile. “But either way, you could have blocked the water with magic.”

Seeing that she was now trying to wring out her hair, Bek flicked his hand in her direction. Silver felt his magic crawl across her skin. It was a sensation she hated, whether it sped the drying process or not - it always left her feeling as if she had stepped into a sauna and then back out to twenty-degree weather over a period of about two minutes. But at least she was dry. And when the wolf coughed from her other side, she knew she would get no sympathy from the silvery beast.

“Bek,” she said seriously, ignoring the wolf and the dragons. He met her eyes, clearly noticing the finality in her tone. “It’s been three days since Zien changed anything with our plans. It seems like no one is ever going to know any better what we can expect to find in the castle.”

“Because the beasts don’t go anywhere near it,” he reminded her levelly.

“I know, but I don’t know what we’re waiting for—”

“Frankly,” Bek said, cutting her off, “I’m hoping we’re waiting to give up on this whole venture. Suggesting that the presence of the hatchlings will make the Zara less likely to kill us seems like a long shot. Almost as much of a longshot as assuming the fact that the Zara has not killed you yet means he won’t kill you now. Whatever the ice bird believes, we’ll be walking into a trap…and I’m not convinced that a beast the Zara nearly killed might not have ulterior motives in sending us to our deaths.”

“Nice of you to wait till now to say so,” Silver observed, choosing not to pursue what ulterior motives the ice bird could possibly have besides straight up revenge. She felt Bek’s eyes follow her as she leaned over to get a drink, but he did not say anything until she was done.

“I wanted to leave the Stone from the beginning. We’ll find another way to win the vampires over, if the beasts still need them. The dragons change things for all of us.” Silver said nothing, and he leaned into the edge of the pool. “Zien won’t say it, Silver, but she knows if we go after the Zara, there is a very high chance she’ll never see us alive again. The beasts won’t go with us into the castle because it goes against the Agreements. All they can do is scheme, and hope they come up with a good enough plan to keep us alive while they await our triumphant return.”

“What are the Agreements, exactly? Cea, Pelorin, even Dusk didn’t seem to be able to explain them well,” Silver asked stiffly. He nodded in the face of her frustration.

“Most likely, no one can explain them well. They’re a series of accords that history tells us were created before the Divide in Alti, not here. The beasts choose to acknowledge them today for their own reasons, with no apparent way to validate their authenticity. You want words, Silver, and the beasts had no use for words. When the Agreements were formed, territories were staked out and laws laid down. Violating those laws generally meant a swift death. Again, this all theoretically happened in Alti.”

“So? What was the Divide, exactly? Zien has explained what led up to it - in Alti of course, not that she could tell me where that was - and the fact that the Agreements existed. Zien did not say what happened afterward, or what it has to do with the castle.”

Bek seemed to think it was a reasonable question. He weighed his answer carefully.

“There’s no doubt Alti was a real place once. Through the ages, the truth about it might have been…embellished,” Bek explained, “and what remains is something treated largely as myth. Alti was said to be one of two fragments of Atlantis that broke apart in a catastrophic storm. Supposedly, it was an island and more than an island. It was the place where the dragons’ seat of power resided, and it was the site of a great, bloody war that resulted in the Agreements between men, dragons, and spirits.”

Bek placed one finger in the glacial water, watching the ripples spread slowly from his hand across the pool, as he said, “The Divide refers to the day Alti disappeared.”

“Islands don’t disappear,” Silver said pointedly, when it became apparent he was not going to say more. Bek glanced at her, eyes dark.

“You’re most likely right. There are some who argue that Alti may not have been an island at all – the only accounts we have of it come from unreliable sources, and the only evidence of its existence lies in literature, in artifacts like the Stones, and in the language we attribute to it. None of those things is really decisive. Some people would say the Divide itself was ideological as much as it was physical, a rift between those who used magic and those who could not, those who believed that great power meant a great capacity to do good, and those who knew it would be used for more sinister purposes. The language we call Altian might appear, to them, to be some sort of coded language, or a dead language commandeered by magic users in a time when they were heavily persecuted.”

One glance at the wolf told Silver that was not what the beasts believed. Bek saw the direction of her gaze, and sighed.

“Time changes every story, Silver. No one knows what the truth is, anymore. Not even Zien.”

“So what about the castle?” she asked. He half-smiled, as if caught out in trying to slip something past her.

“I have no idea. It’s clearly a relic, a powerful magical artifact. It’s the reason the northwestern branch of the MASO is here, I’m sure. Even if the Zara weren’t there, it would be a dangerous place for us to go. The architecture is unique, to say the least, and so are the spells that form a complex web around every inch of its stone. Plenty of people have studied it, but for safety reasons, no one is permitted inside anymore. It’s been here as long as the MASO, which dates back to the time of the Divide. So yes, there’s good reason to believe it has something to do with the Divide. But I couldn’t say what. No one could.”

Silver considered. Ancient islands, ancient conflicts…none of it sounded like it could possibly be real, and yet here the beasts clung to it like it was the only truth in the world. Then again, was that so strange? The existence of beasts like Zien was just as easy to doubt as the existence of a disappearing island…and just as easy to doubt as an ordinary girl realizing she could light things on fire with a thought.

“It seems like we’ve waited long enough, Bek. If the beasts can’t go to the castle to face the Zara, then we go alone,” she said simply.

“Not alone,” the wolf rumbled, “I will be with you, along with the hatchlings. It is our choice to forego the Agreements.” She patted its head gratefully.

Bek, meanwhile, sighed. “I want you to consider your role in all of this for a moment, Silver. Zien wants us to retrieve the Dawn. The ice bird expects some sort of revelation on the part of the Zara – notably, one of many such beasts that recently converged here. I don’t think you care about either of those things. Maybe you think you do,” he interrupted as she started to speak, “but deep down…you forget, I was there when the Zara took the Stone from you. I saw your face. Maybe you could fool someone else with that expression, but not me. Zien once told me that hatred can twist any soul and brings only devastation. I could never see it in myself. I don’t want to see it in you.”

“I don’t hate the Zara,” Silver disagreed flatly.

“Really? You left the MASO before arrangements could be made for a funeral—”

“My family’s not dead, Bek.” Apparently momentarily stunned, he said nothing when she continued, “One day, I’ll find them. I’m not doing this to get revenge on the Zara.”

In silence, she watched Bek’s expression. Whatever he was thinking, however, it was not clear on his face, and it was also unclear in his words when he finally said, “This isn’t a game, Silver. The particular Zara that hunted you has already killed at least twelve people, and who knows how many of the beasts.”

“He won’t kill me.”

“So, you’re choosing to believe what the beasts told you?”

“No,” she said stubbornly. His expression hardened. “I choose to believe what I’ve seen with my own eyes. The Zara wants something from me, and possibly from the wolf,” Silver said.

“Then why force you to go to the castle? Why not—” Bek began.

“Maybe whatever he needs is there,” she interrupted, averting her gaze.

“Or maybe he just knows the beasts won’t follow you there. He thinks he’ll have you alone.”

“Like the night he burned my house to the ground,” Silver observed. Bek’s expression mingled hopelessness and concern. “What if I am his lament, Bek?”

“Where did you hear that?” he asked sharply. She ignored him.

“If I am, then all of this has something to do with me, too. Including the castle.”

“That’s one theory,” Bek said heatedly, “but not the only one, by far.”

When she dared to look at him again, there was something in his eyes that made her think he doubted himself. Something about the way he looked from her to the wolf, and then his eyes crept towards the place where the tree wolves rested.

“Say the Zara hasn’t moved on, Silver, but is waiting for you at the castle. That’s already farfetched, by the way…two weeks with the Dawn in his grasp, surrounded by others of his kind, and this one Zara is camped out in a drafty castle in the woods, waiting for you. But anyway, say he is – if it isn’t to steal the Stone, and it isn’t because you think the ice bird is right and you’ll somehow sway him to our side, and it isn’t to kill him because of what he did to you, then what is this about? Tell me.”

Silence hung between them then. Silver opened her mouth as if to answer him, but she could not. The ice bird, she felt, had been absolutely right – deep in her heart, she knew Zien and the wolf were correct. She was the Zara’s lament, and he would haunt her until the day she died. After seeing first-hand the damage the Zara could inflict even on the nightwings, she knew she could not carry that burden for long. Bek’s gaze was relentless. He would not let her go now without some sort of answer. Unthinking, her fingers moved to the wolf’s velvety fur.

“This is the only way,” Silver finally said.

“The only way you what, Silver?”

“The only way,” she took a deep breath, “that I get to live my life. The Zara’s waiting in that castle. I know he is.”

Bek closed his eyes, clearly thinking hard. His jaw worked back and forth, until finally, he opened his eyes and fixed her with a hard stare.

“Fine. If you’re right, we can’t wait any longer.”

They went to gather their things in silence, the two dragons watching somberly, like strange, jeweled birds. Elorian helped Silver to find Zien when they were done, and the tree wolf took one look at them, each with their bags packed on their backs, before laying her ears back and rumbling in concern.

“We’re ready, Zien,” Bek said, “and so are the hatchlings.”

“It has not been decided that the dragons should accompany you,” the alpha’s jowls curled around her words, which were made so that Bek could also understand them.

“It was decided the moment the ice bird told Silver that if they don’t come, the Zara will kill us,” Bek said heavily. By the stillness of the alpha’s tail, Silver could tell Zien was displeased. But there did not seem to be any real argument. It was also possible, by the direction of the tree wolf’s gaze, that some invisible communication passed between Elorian and Zien. In response, Zien simply huffed, a throaty sound that echoed in the caverns. Like a spider on its thread, Itoru dropped suddenly into the air between them, chittering questioningly.

“Go ahead of them, Itoru. If there is anything amiss, you are to tell the nerske in advance of their arrival,” Zien purred. With a sharp squeak, Itoru darted away in the direction of the outdoors. Zien turned to Silver. “You’re sure you’re prepared? I can do nothing for you once you enter the castle.”

“We’re sure,” Silver stated without hesitation.

For a long while, Zien made no sound, merely stood curiously still, nose working the air. Then the alpha rumbled, and Silver understood all the words that Bek would never hear. “Hunt well then, wolves. Silver, do not leave your heart too near the tips of your fangs. The Zara are part of a bygone era, but their tragedy is yet as raw to them as is the loss of your kin to you. Elorian, may our voices meet beneath the moon.”

The wolf rumbled agreement, emerald eyes bright. Silence fell once more as Zien guided them slowly from the caverns, unusually tense. Maybe the alpha realized that her every footfall drew them nearer a conflict that knotted Silver’s stomach. To plan to face the Zara was one thing, actually standing before him entirely another. Sensing Silver’s distress, Seijelar clambered to a now customary position around her shoulders. Thankfully, the dragon was light despite its size.

When they reached the outside, Silver’s eyes roved over a landscape that she had seen a hundred times before, but today it was nothing like she remembered. All around them, the snow caked the earth like the ocean tide, and where it receded lay the pale, scattered remnants of trees from the battle with the Zara, like bones half buried in the bloodied red soil of the mountains. Thunder rolled in the distance, heralded by the occasional burst of lightning. Early morning had come and gone, and with it the dull pallor of a sunless day that had estranged the sparse trees and barren lands at the base of the mountains. In the ensuing fog, they had become in some places obscured, and in others so crystal clear that they had gained a dreamlike quality. Light, a deep, golden glow, lit the sky, silhouetting the massive mountains so that they became crisp black behemoths arching their craggy backs to the clouds.

Snow fell.

Her mouth was dry.

Silver blinked then, looking back. Zien had stopped. Cea, Pelorin, and Biarn were there as well, with the rest of the pack. In the shadow of the caverns, she saw one of the white nightwings, possibly Dusk, watching in silence.

“You know the way,” Zien formed words Bek could hear again.

“Yes,” Bek answered.

“Yes,” the wolf answered in the twitch of its silvery ears.

“When your task is done, hurry to Icthuria. There, we can send word to the vampires,” Zien informed them.

“Understood,” Bek said, and Silver nodded.

“Till we meet again,” the alpha growled.

The hair along Silver’s neck began to rise. Her heart was heavy; she had believed they would travel together longer with the tree wolves. She had also believed someone would explain how they were going to get down the mountain on foot, but Bek seemed to have none of her concerns. He had lapsed into a brooding silence, pushing his hair out of his face and stroking Skourett’s eye ridges as he started to follow the wolf down a steep path through the stone. Seijelar curled in a warm ring around Silver’s neck and hid under the cover of her hair, ready to be on their way.

One step after another, Silver forced herself to follow. The path was not so bad. It looked like one the tree wolves must have used, day in and day out, for the past few weeks. Maybe it was their magic that had moved the twisted and broken trees from their battle with the Zara into all the spaces a human required to not fall from the face of the mountain to their inevitable doom. Silver’s heart raced regardless, beating a steady rhythm against her ribs. She could not determine whether that was because one mistake would still send her tumbling down the mountainside, or if it was because, when they arrived at the castle, she would face the Zara.

They did not make it far before Bek stopped her, just out of sight of the caverns. He pulled something from the pockets in his jacket, glancing behind them as if to be sure that no one had followed them.

“You remember what I told you about the Zara being beasts born of creatures that have lost their will to go on living? Their bodies have become vessels for the magic that exists in the world around them. That means this can protect you, at least by making the Zara unable to touch you.” Extending his fist, he opened his hand to reveal a delicate golden necklace coiled at the center of his palm. Hanging from the gold chain was a golden disk set with a single, crystalline stone at its center. Four smaller stones paraded around the edges of the disk: green, black, red, and a rich, honey-yellow gold. Silver recognized it immediately.

“Take it, Silver.”

Silver raised her hand tentatively, and watched as Bek settled the silky strands of the gold chain over her fingers and frowned gravely. The metal was cool against her skin, and flowed like liquid across the curves of her hands.

“Zeharial’s necklace?” she asked, staring at him. Bek made a shushing motion at her.

“Never tell anyone that you have it, Silver. Never.”

Unsure what to say to this, she fingered the silky gold chain in her palm, staring as the gold shifted and shimmered in the gloom, then shifted the dragon aside with her shoulders and put it on. She did not wear necklaces often, and her nails, which had always been unusually strong, had grown longer than she liked in the intervening weeks – as well as chipped and cracked. As a result, it took her at least ten tries to slip the catch. She was not about to ask Bek for help, though, not in a million years. He probably knew that, but it did not show in his expression.

And when she was done, they went on their way as if nothing had happened, on down the mountainside and back into the forest.