Eona: The Last Dragoneye

does.

Merciful gods of heaven, I prayed, let Dillon still have the folio.

“I don’t see it,” Dela said, quick to understand. “It’s not there!”

A glimpse of dark leather sent dizzy relief through me. “No, he’s got it. Under his sleeve. See!”

My shrill triumph carried across to Dillon. His eyes fixed on me, his face widening into a scream. “Eona!” He ran a few steps, his hands beating the air. “See, see, I found her.” He struck himself in the head. “See!” His fist slammed into his skull again. “It’s Eona. See! It’s Eona!” Both fists pounded into his forehead, over and over. Although we stood at least fifty lengths from him, we could hear the dull thud of each blow.

Beside me, Yuso curled three fingers into a ward-evil. “Is he possessed?”

“No, Sun Drug,” I said, remembering the rage that had overtaken me with just a few doses. “Ido tried to kill him with it.”

Dela’s hand covered her mouth. “Poor child.”

“If he doesn’t shut up, he’ll bring the whole army down on us,” Yuso said, even as Kygo caught Dillon by the shoulder and clapped his hand over the boy’s mouth, muffling his screams to muted shrieks. Yuso pushed me back a step. “Get to cover,” he ordered, then ran to help his emperor.

Ryko had already crawled over to the struggle and was dodging Dillon’s vicious kicks as he grabbed for the boy’s legs. Tiron looped Ju-Long’s reins over a nearby tree, obviously intending to join the fray.

“They’re going to hurt him,” I said.

Dela tugged my sleeve. “Come, we must get to safety.”

“No.” I broke free and ran toward the three men struggling to contain Dillon. My breath came in hard gasps, more from fear than from the desperate sprint. Dillon’s ruined mind would push him past surrender; he would force them to hurt him.

I ducked around the knot of men, trying to find a way to Dillon. Across his writhing body, Ryko’s eyes met mine in clear communication. Still insane. The moment of understanding was as brief as a heartbeat, but my spirit lifted. Perhaps all was not lost between us. And perhaps all was not lost for Dillon. I launched myself into a gap between Yuso and the emperor.

“Dillon, it’s me,” I yelled. My hand grazed the boy’s shoulder. “It’s Eona. Stop fighting.”

“I told you to get back,” Yuso snarled. “Tiron, get her to safety.”

The guard ran up behind me. I dodged and searched for another opening in the shift of straining, sweaty bodies.

Yuso had one of Dillon’s shins clasped to his chest, his other hand trying to catch the boy’s wild punches. A pale flash flicked up from the boy’s forearm — the rope of guardian pearls, its end curled back like a whip above the black folio. It lashed out at Kygo, but Yuso deflected it with his fist. With breathtaking speed, it flailed Yuso’s hand, lifting skin and blood. The guard recoiled, cursing. Ryko clamped down Dillon’s other leg and arm, and Kygo locked his arms around the boy’s chest, his own head craned back to avoid the pearls and the boy’s frenzied head-butts. With savage intensity, Dillon bucked against the brutal hold on his body.

I saw a chance and lunged across the tangle of arms and legs, grabbing the boy’s ragged queue. “Dillon! Stop!” I roared against his ear.

Abruptly, he stilled. With a last click, the rope of pearls collapsed onto the black folio, then slithered around it, binding it back to his left forearm. Dillon’s jaundiced eyes fixed on mine. “Eona, Eona, Eona,” he chanted. “What happened to Eon?” He gave a shrill giggle.

“For Shola’s sake, keep him quiet,” Yuso snapped at me. “Ryko, what’s coming?”

I stroked Dillon’s clammy cheek, hoping to calm him as Ryko gave his report.

“Twenty-four men, fan formation, with a local upfront. They’re tracking the boy. They were two arenas away at least when I picked him up, but they’re moving fast.”

Yuso stared down at Dillon. “Why are they after you, boy?”

Dillon giggled. “Why are they after you, boy?”

Yuso’s lean face darkened.

“They want the black folio,” I said quickly. “Sethon thinks it holds the key to a weapon made of all the dragon power.” Between the tightly coiled pearls, I could make out the twelve interconnected circles embossed on the leather cover: the symbol of the String of Pearls. “Lord Ido thinks so, too.”

“Black words,” Dillon muttered. “Black words. Inside me.”

“I remember this boy now,” Kygo said. “Lord Ido’s apprentice.” His eyes found mine, but I could not read his expression. “Another Dragoneye. How does he come to be here?”

Dillon’s eyes darted from me to the emperor. “My lord sent me,” he said. “He’s in my head. ‘Find Eona, find Eona, find Eona.’ Always in my head.”

“What does he mean?” Kygo asked me.

But I could not speak, silenced by an obvious truth. If Ido died, the only thing that stood between the bereft dragons and me was Dillon — a mind-sick apprentice as untrained as myself. There was no chance he could hold back the beasts. We would both die, torn apart by their grief. I fought for air as if I was surfacing through oil.

We had to get Ido out of the palace, alive.

Yuso suddenly straightened, his dark eyes scanning the eerily quiet woodlands around us. “Your Majesty,” he said quietly. “We don’t have time to question this boy. We must move, now!”

“Not until we get the black book off him.” Kygo’s face held a new intensity. I had seen its like before, on Ido and my master: the burn of ambition.

Yuso’s jaw clenched, but he gave a curt nod and reached for the folio. The last two pearls lifted, like a snake’s head. He yanked back his hand. “Are they alive?”

“They have Gan Hua worked into them,” I said. “They’ll strike at anything that tries to move the folio.”

Even now, the negative energy woven into the pearls was nauseating me. No wonder Dillon was still so sick in mind and body; he did not have a chance between the book and the damage from the overdose of Sun Drug. Both Tiron and Ryko leaned away from Dillon’s arm.

“Your Majesty, we must move,” Yuso said.

Kygo’s jaw tightened. “All right. Leave the book where it is. The boy comes with us. Just keep him and the book safe.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Yuso fixed me with a hard stare. “You seem to be able to control him, Lady Dragoneye. Keep him quiet.”

At his nod, all the men loosened their grip on Dillon, allowing him on to his feet. He staggered, striking out weakly at their steadying hands until I hooked him into the circle of my arms. His thin body stank of fevered nights and driven days.

“You’ve got to stay with me and be quiet,” I said, holding him upright. “Do you understand?”

“He’s still in my mind,” Dillon whispered. I grabbed his fist as it arced toward his forehead. It was not going to be easy to keep him quiet — or alive.

With one last look at the tree line, Yuso herded us forward. “Go!”

I pulled Dillon into a stumbling run. A downrush of cold air from the heavens cut through the heat, chilling the sour sweat on my face and neck. The monsoon was coming. Yuso overtook us, joining Kygo a length or so ahead.

“Your Majesty, take Ryko and the others southeast,” the captain said, keeping pace beside the emperor. He looked up at the heavy mass of roiling clouds.

“Ride as long as you can, but don’t take any risks in the mud. I’ll lead the soldiers north, with Solly and Tiron.”

“Understood,” Kygo said.

He and Yuso drew away from us, intent on mobilizing the others. I squeezed Dillon’s bony hand, urging more speed. Dela was only thirty or so lengths away, frantically waving us in. Further back, Solly and Vida waited with the horses.

“Is that Lady Dela?” Dillon asked in such a normal voice that I slowed to stare at him. “Why is she dressed as a man?” For a moment, I saw the gentle Dillon I had once known— bewildered and lost — then he was gone again, bright madness back in his eyes. “My lord said he’d get out of my head. Why isn’t he out of my head?” His voice