“Gin? What’s going on?” Sath was on his feet too, trying to stop her from pacing. “Talk to me.”
“The only time I’ve ever had this uncomfortable buzzing—that I mistook for growling—was before. Sath it was before, long before!” Her eyes were wide with fear and anger as she continued to rub the back of her neck. Her skin grew red under her fingers as she pressed harder, as though she could stop the buzz if she could just get under her skin. Sath grabbed her hand and swung her around to face him, then trapped her other hand on its way up under her hair to her neck.
“Before when, Gin? What are you on about?”
Her voice was almost inaudible. “It was before—when I was with Ben.”
“Who are you?” Omerith stared down the younger and smaller dragon as he addressed her in Eldyr. “What have you done with my daughter?”
“Father, I do not understand your meaning. I am your daughter, Daelyth!”
“You cannot be. You—do not know things that you should know. Things that I have not told you. I cannot find you in the bond.”
“Father, why do you question me?” Daelyth tilted her golden head to one side and studied him. “I am here in front of you, surely we have no need for the bond now.”
“I will ask you one last time. Who are you?”
“And I will tell you the only answer I have—I am your daughter.” Daelyth turned to leave the great hall but was stopped by a flare to her left. When she looked back, she could see small puffs of smoke from Omerith’s nose. “You mean to burn me, my father?”
Omerith stared down the golden dragon. “I have not dismissed you yet. But daughter, it seems that you are ready to retaliate in kind, are you not?” He looked pointedly at her abdomen, which was glowing a steady amber, growing more and more discernible by the moment against her golden scales.
“I would hope that you do not push me to that point, father.”
“Get out of my sight. You are dismissed.” Omerith turned away from her and held still as he heard her footsteps leaving the room. He took a moment to search for her again in the bond and found nothing—except for a very agitated and worried Nature Walker.
Ginolwenye of the Trees, it is worse than I feared.
Omerith! What has happened?
The dragon that you saw here with me, my daughter. . . is. . .not herself.
Who is she?
The body is that of Daelyth, but the mind. . .This I know not, but she is not my daughter.
Apologies, my lord, but how can you be certain?
Because Nature Walker, my daughter, only the second frost dragon born on Orana since the emergence of the Mother Dragon, just tried to fill her belly with fire to launch in my direction. That is how I am certain.
Thirty
Secrets Have a Way of Catching on Fire
Ellie didn’t know how long it had been since she had been thrown into the prison in the back of her own mind. There was no passage of time there, no day or night. There was only her, and the darkness. “Taeben!” she screamed, but there was no answer. Every so often she could see glimpses of the world outside of her mind, but for the most part they were flashes that Taeben was letting her see. Those images were as real to her as anything that had really happened, and to keep herself entertained she began stringing them together, calling them up in her mind in the order she first saw them until a new one was added. Most of the images made no sense, but once she started to pay attention to them in order, she began seeing a pattern.
Taeben let her see the Nature Walker and the Rajah—still in disguise—going to speak to the red dragon. Somehow Taeben was standing next to the dragon, and Omerith did not look as massive as she had expected—certainly not as colossal as the Mother Dragon had been. There was a pause—that was the only way she could explain the gaps in what she saw. The red dragon, even smaller than before, was talking to him. The next vision was a clear view of the red dragon, and she got the impression that he was angry. Without being able to hear the dialogue, Ellie couldn’t be sure, but she could almost—ALMOST—feel Taeben’s anger mixed with a heady bit of fear. But Taeben had never been afraid of anything—that was new. There was a sensation of heat that accompanied the fear, and then it was all gone.
Maybe she should stop screaming and just call out to him like she used to do? Perhaps, if she did that, he would remember that she was there, and -
Elspethe. What do you know of the red dragon and his brood?
You remembered I was here.
It has been one day, settle down—I do remember being in an incorporeal state doesn’t help gauge the passage of time.
You came back for me!
Sort of. Now then, as I have already asked, what do you know of the red dragon and his brood? Do not make me ask you again. You have walled up your memories, and I distinctly told you to open your mind to me, did I not?
Yes, but -
RED DRAGON AND HIS BROOD!
His name is Omerith. He is the only surviving member of the First Brood of the Mother Dragon. His mate is Andyth, and she is a white dragon of unknown origin. Their daughter is -
A white dragon? Could she be a frost dragon?
It is possible. I did not have a chance to finish my research, but the most I have found is that Omerith simply discovered her north of the dwarven caves.
