Despite my anxiety, we have no trouble at all as we fly northwest into Klevor, following a wide, slow river that winds through the forested region. A few hills and small mountains break up an otherwise flat terrain. Even still, Vitegadium is quiet for once, and all four of us stare ahead as the sun rises behind us. Perhaps we’re expecting to see dragons springing out at us at any point. I’m not sure, but I cling to the saddle horn with one hand, my other hand on the strap that holds my shield to my back.
“Vitegadium,” Astralux calls over the wind. “We should probably start separating now.”
Vitegadium nods once, and then the emerald-green dragon slows. I wave once at Thorn. “Be careful!” I shout.
“You as well,” Thorn calls back.
As Vitegadium and Thorn trail further and further behind us they also fly lower and lower to the ground. Astralux flies a little lower, but since we’re the distraction, we’re not as worried. We still don’t want to get caught unaware, and we both look back and forth as we start to fly over small villages.
“Salaco isn’t too much farther this way,” Astralux says. “Maybe a few more hours.”
Traveling by dragon is insane. We’ve spanned thousands of meters in a few short days. Despite how much I’m reeling from that, I start to think about our timing, the sun sinking lower in the sky.
“Should we stop for the evening?” I ask. I look back but don’t see Vitegadium and Thorn. “Maybe not.”
Astralux looks back and then faces straight again, shaking her head. “No. But don’t worry, we’ll go slower once we see Salaco.”
Astralux does fly wide of a couple larger towns that have watchtowers—I hope Thorn and Vitegadium do the same—and then slows. Ahead, the forest begins to thin out, until at last it turns to a strange, craggy barren earth, save for some greenery around the river. And it’s here that a massive city sits “atop” the river, which flows into it and around it.
“Salaco,” Astralux says.
It’s bigger than Remyssus. A four-meter-tall stone wall surrounds the entire thing, stone watchtowers situated at the several gates that open into the city. The river flows through a grate straight into the city, and just before Astralux ducks down into the last of the trees, I spot it weaving in-between sections of the city. Down low to the ground, I can see what I guess to be the Heidrich Palace, a massive castle bearing the Heidrich coat of arms, a golden rampant lion on a red and black checkered background. Soldiers in the same uniform patrol all about in front of and atop the walls. There are even wooden watchtowers posted several hundred meters away from the city, and I realize that’s why Astralux dropped—there’s one not that far from where she’s hidden.
And as if that’s not intimidating enough, I immediately spot the Malum Palace. It’s a dark stone structure on the other side of the river, and while it doesn’t spread out quite as wide as the Heidrich Palace, it’s just as tall, with pointed spires that somehow make me think of the Vladykar’s inhuman teeth and claws. It has lots of windows but they’re all dark. A massive banner featuring the Vladykar coat of arms—a rampant black dragon with a red sun and red moon in its claws on a diamond-shaped gold background—billows in the wind.
A shiver runs up my spine, and I search for signs of a Vladykar, or any other dragon. But there’s no movement around the Malum Palace.
“We could go around the city,” I whisper.
Astralux nods. She starts to glance back and then stops herself. “I guess from here on out, we need to pretend that Vitegadium and Thorn aren’t nearby.”
“Right.”
I observe the guards in the wooden watchtower close to us. As soon as they look away, I tap Astralux’s shoulder. She, observing them too, takes off in a cat-like bound over to the next patch of trees to the north. Still no Vladykars, still no warning toll. Astralux peers out to see the next watchtower, and then she sneaks to the next group of trees.
Astralux glances back at me. “I have to be honest, I thought they would be out patrolling.”
“Maybe they’re inside Malum Palace?” I offer.
“True. It is late in the day.” Astralux sneaks to the next patch of trees, now barely hidden behind the few trees here. “I think from here we’re better off just making a dash to the wall.”
“There’s a lot of guards on that wall,” I say.
Astralux’s deep blue eyes look to the north. “Maybe we skirt around the other way, along the mountainside.”
“I like that idea better. But hold on.” I dismount and rub Astralux’s scales with some of the reddish-brown dust at our feet. “While we’re the distraction, we don’t want to be seen a mile away.”
“Hey!” Astralux snorts, a glittering mist escaping her nostrils. But I hear the amusement in her tone, and feel it through our bond. Smiling a little, I pat her neck and climb back into the saddle.
We watch the nearest watchtowers outside of Salaco, and then Astralux scampers across the river to a small boulder. I stay low on Astralux’s back, but despite feeling like we’re out in the open, I hear no shouts of warning. We both peer around the boulder, my anxiety slowly turning to suspicion.
“You too?” Astralux murmurs. “Something’s not right.”
“I get that the Vladykars aren’t out and about, and many—if not all—went to Amenyl, so maybe that’s helping us,” I whisper. “But it’s just odd.”
“Even the guards at Adytol would have noticed us by now. Maybe we are getting lucky?” Astralux glances at me. “Best we can do is continue to get closer.” I nod.
In this slow, meticulous fashion, Astralux darts from boulder to crag to shadow from the mountainside, and we edge closer to the Malum Palace. The sun begins to set, and I regret approaching the palace with night nearer. Its stone isn’t a true black, but there’s a strange foreboding gloom hanging over it, and as soon as Astralux leaps over the moat surrounding the palace, I feel an evil chill in the air.
“I don’t like this,” I whisper.
“It’s okay, Estelle.” Astralux slinks to the side of the Malum Palace where there aren’t any windows. To my surprise, there are no guards posted outside. The nearest ones are at the watchtowers posted on either side of a gate across the river, facing toward the palace. “However, we have a new issue—we might have to go inside to get their attention.”
My heart leaps up into my throat, and I look up at the Malum Palace. “I guess we may as well.”
Astralux starts to look back before freezing. She sighs as I pat her neck. “I’m really worried.”
“Same. And it’s not helped by how ‘easy’ this was.” I think back to what I’ve heard about the Vladykars. “There’s supposedly eight bonded of them, right?”
“Without…without the Snake, I’m not sure,” Astralux says. “We always thought they had at least one more pair, but that still means that they would be at eight bonded now.”
“So, there should only be one bonded, and whatever trainees they have,” I whisper. “If our intel was correct.”
“Unfortunately,” Astralux says after a pause, “we didn’t see who those dragons were that were headed south yesterday. Which, now I realize might have helped us figure out if there were any missing from that entourage.”
“Ugh.” Still, I’m feeling a little encouraged. “Let’s just assume that there’s an extra bonded pair around here somewhere. So…are we sneaking in from the bottom or the top?”
“The only space big enough for me is at the top.” Astralux gestures to the balconies far above our heads, not unlike what the Wards’ Palace has. “We better go through that way—I’m not leaving you to walk into this place by yourself.”
Astralux half-flies, half-crawls up the northeast side of the Malum Palace to avoid the gaze of the Salaco guards. It still wouldn’t take much to see her, and while I dislike being this close to the Vladykars’ abode at night, no doubt it’s aiding us as we scale the palace. At last, reaching the balcony, I gesture for Astralux to hold and climb up her neck. Slowly, swallowing back my fear, I peek over the edge.
It’s a landing balcony, and like the Wards’ Palace there are heavy drapes to block out weather from up here. I beckon Astralux up onto the balcony, but then I crouch low and step toward the black drapes. I slowly pull one back, my heart beating hard, expecting to see a Vladykar staring back at me.
It’s empty. This balcony doesn’t go to a bedroom but to a massive dragon-sized hallway that stops abruptly and opens into what I guess is a grand hall. I can’t see much from here, but I do see the Vladykar coat of arms banners hanging directly across from me in the open hall beyond. There are a couple of human-sized doors to my left and my right, but something about their simple wooden design makes me guess closets. I can’t imagine the Vladykars hiding Ariadna’s Star behind those.
Feeling Astralux’s anxiety, I look back. “Clear. It looks like there’s a hallway that goes to an open room beyond.”
Astralux peeks in, and then she steps inside. I follow her.
“Light of Ariadna!”
Both Astralux and I start in surprise as the Star calls to us—and its call is much, much clearer. I feel it now, and both Astralux and I look down.
“It’s below, somewhere,” I whisper.
Astralux nods. “We should avoid speaking,” she murmurs so low it’s more of a rumble in her chest than words. I pat her side before we both sneak to the edge of where the hallway opens up. My breath catches.
It is a grand hall, not unlike the Golden Palace’s grand hall. There are stairs all along the sides, leading to more floors and other hallways, but the center is massive, clearly designed to allow even large dragons to fly down. There are two large stone tables set to either side, perhaps for eating, while a single stone throne chair draped with gold-trimmed red and black cloth sits atop a six-step platform, which also has a space behind it big enough for even Kalteratem to sit. And then it hits me that that’s probably where Vladykar Malyncor and Noxmalum sit.
But there’s not a soul inside. Not even guards stationed along the walls, no servants in sight. The candle sconces along the walls and on the tables are unlit, our only light the bit of moonlight and city lights peeking in through the red-tinted windows. It’s eerily empty, and I look to Astralux. I never expected us to get this far without finding some sort of trouble, and now I’m not sure what to do.
Astralux looks as perplexed as me. “I guess we should continue on to the Star,” she whispers. “I mean, if we can get it, no sense in waiting for…in waiting.”
I nod and mount Astralux’s saddle. She glides down softly and lands with a light click of her claws on the stone. Now inside the Malum Palace, standing at the floor of the grand hall, I feel ill with dread. The chill has turned into a lifeless cold that hangs on my skin, and I rub my arms as we look for a way down.
“There,” Astralux whispers. She nods to spiral stairs headed down located at the front of the grand hall, toward the entrance doors. We both head over to stairs slowly, looking for signs of life. But there’s nothing.
The stairs down are made of the dark stone like the rest of the palace. Unlike everywhere we’ve been, however, these aren’t big enough for a dragon to walk down, and Astralux and I stare at them as it slowly sinks in that I need to go alone.
“Well.” I look up at Astralux. My throat catches in surprise at the wide-eyed look of terror she gives me, and the worry I feel from her. “It’ll be okay, Astralux,” I whisper.
Astralux whimpers. “I have no fear facing danger together. But I can’t just let you…this is the Malum Palace. We shouldn’t separate.”
“I’ll have backup soon,” I whisper.
Sighing, Astralux nuzzles me. “Please be careful. Come back at the soonest sign of danger.”
“I will.” I kiss her cheek, hug her neck tightly, and then turn and slowly walk down the steps, feeling like I’m walking into the belly of a terrible beast.
Maybe I am.
Tamara Rivers 
Leave a comment