Zoe Reed - Breaking Legacies

By the time we reached the castle yard again, the sun was setting beyond the wall. There was victorious shouting filtering over the stone a short distance away, and a handful of horses appeared between the buildings, a mix of the Vigilant green and Cornwall’s blue and gray. Kingston was amongst these riders, with Haunt following after him, and he jumped off his horse the very moment they came to a stop. His armor was scratched and dented and in desperate need of repair, there were spots of blood all over the shimmering steel, and his helmet was missing. Even Haunt’s gray fur was tinged red, and she was limping from a gash across a front limb, but they both appeared as healthy as the rest of us.

“We’ve done it?” I asked him. Though I could stand just fine on my own and Nira let me go once we’d stopped walking, Ava’s arm was still clutched firmly around my waist. I knew that it wasn’t as much to offer me support as it was simply to feel me, but I wouldn’t make her let go even if I didn’t need the help. Not ever.

Kingston nodded with a massive grin on his face, noticing the king and queen and bowing at them. “Your regions’ armies arrived just in time,” he told the royals. “What’s left of Hazlitt’s army has surrendered.”

Though still weak, the king left Denig and Skif’s support to stagger forward, offering his hand to Kingston. “We couldn’t have survived this without you.” And as Kingston shook with him, he passed a look around at the rest of us. “Without all of you. Thank you.”

“My King,” one of the horse riders prompted, hopping down to lead his horse forward. It was pulling a cart. “The physician is waiting for you.”

The king nodded, said another thanks, and then went with the queen to sit on the cart and be taken for medical aid. The prince stayed behind, and as his parents were driven away, there was a swift shadow from over the wall. Pine Shadow came swooping into view and thudded down next to Denig, but the dragon didn’t slither beneath his hand for affection. It had something curled in its tail. Something that it set gently on the ground in front of us.

“What is that?” Nira asked, squinting at the scaled oval that was a familiar swirl of black and blue.

“A dragon egg,” I answered, but I didn’t have the energy to explain. “Night Phoenix.”

Denig strode forward, picking up the egg that was twice as large as his head. “It needs to be returned to the mountain…” It seemed obvious that it was he and Skif who should return it, and their home was merely a short dragon ride away. Still, he studied the egg for a long minute in deep consideration, looked from it to us, and then extended the egg to Skif.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Skif asked. “You’ll get closer to that cave than I will.”

Denig shook his head. “I’m not going back. Not yet.” His lips pursed apologetically at the confused look Skif gave him. “Nira was right when she said that our way of protecting the dragons was shortsighted. People know now that they’re still alive, and we need to do more than hole up on the mountain.” He reached out to put his hand on Pine Shadow’s head. “At least one of us needs to stay… as an ambassador for the dragons and Dragonkin.”

Skif’s expression softened with understanding, and it was clear by the way he stared back and forth between Denig and the egg that he was torn on whether or not he wanted to stay too. “Well that’s a lot to think on, isn’t it?” he said eventually.

Kingston laughed. “I think we all deserve a rest from just about everything for the night.” He motioned to the two remaining horsemen who were pulling more carts. “Volunteers to take you back to camp.”

“Here, here,” Nira agreed, eagerly passing us to plop onto a cart. “I hope we’re feasting tonight.” And Rhien, Denig, and Skif followed after her, and they were wheeled away just after sitting.

Kingston looked down at my wounded leg, seemed unsure of what to think about the hole in the chest of my armor, and then scanned Ava for injuries. “I’ll send Sevedi to your tent as soon as she has the time,” he said. We both nodded, and he hesitated for a long moment before setting a hand on each of our shoulders. “Not sure I’d have survived going home without you,” he chuckled, giving my shoulder a fond squeeze. “Your mother certainly would have killed me.”

“Lucky for us both,” I laughed, not having the heart to tell him just how near that fate had been.

“Get some rest,” he said with smile. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

We watched him get back on his horse and ride away toward the wall, and then I realized that the prince was still here. He clearly had something to say, and came to stand in front of Ava and me to get our attention.

“You saved my parents’ lives,” he said, looking at both of us. “And mine. Thank you.” He inhaled a deep breath, his gray eyes falling seriously on Ava. “I don’t know what your intentions were last summer, but I don’t care. Whatever it was, it’s forgiven. I would like to think that though your affections may not have been true, your friendship was.” He paused, scanning Ava’s face after that last part as though he was wildly unsure of himself. For such a strong, noble-looking man, he appeared rather self-conscious, and I tried not to smile at the boyish hope in his eyes.

“You’re a good man, Destrian,” Ava said, and though the prince’s opinion of her had never been much of a worry amidst this war, I could hear her relief. “And a kind friend.”

He held out his hand palm up, and when Ava set hers in it, he lifted it to his lips to press a kiss to the back. “I wish you all the happiness in the world.” He let her hand go and turned to me, bowing deeply. “Take care of her,” he told me with a friendly smile.

“I promise,” I said, bowing in return.

He passed a final, amicable look at both of us, and then headed off in the direction his parents had disappeared. Ava helped me limp over to the cart, and though Haunt had a difficult time climbing up into it because of her injury, I knew better than to try and help her. She managed on her own, and Ava and I sat down too. As the cart started carrying us off toward the wall, Ava wrapped her arms around my torso to hug herself to me, resting her head on my shoulder. We were heading toward the tents, and tomorrow we’d likely be heading home, but in the few minutes of silence as we sat there, I realized that I didn’t have a home. There was no need to stay in the Vigilant caves anymore, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the caves emptied as everyone really did go home, but Ava didn’t want to be queen at Guelder, and my cottage had burned down.

“Ava,” I prompted, wrapping my own arm around her to set it on her waist. “I don’t have a home to take you to…”

All she did was hug me a little tighter. “Tonight, home is a war tent in a battle camp.”

“And tomorrow?” I asked.

She angled to peck me on the cheek. “Wherever we should find ourselves, so long as we’re together.”

I nuzzled against the top of her head when she set it back on my shoulder, and for the first time since I’d met her, I truly understood what she meant when she said that I felt like home. “Can it be somewhere we could hide away for a while, just the two of us?”

Ava laughed one of the lightest, easiest laughs I’d ever heard from her. The kind of laugh that let me know she already felt happier than she’d been in a long time. “Wherever you’d like.”

As we rounded one of the final bends in the road on our journey to Ronan, the castle of Midsummit came into view. It was a beautiful fall day, the cloudless sky painting a picture of serenity over the capital that made my heart swell. It had been just over two months since the end of the war, for a total of eight since Ava and I had been to Ronan, and the exciting circumstances of our visit would make our first journey back a rewarding one. In two weeks’ time would be Nira’s coronation ceremony, for her not just to act as queen of Ronan, but to be queen. A brief glance at Ava, who was on her own horse at my side, let me know that she was just as delighted to be arriving as I was.