portion,” Andreus said. His words were followed shortly by Hali placing a steaming bowl of surprisingly delicious-looking stew in front of Tauran.
Tauran flushed. He had been anything but kind to Andreus and Hali. He’d killed Andreus’ dragon, shown up at his house and pulled a gun on him, and still, they fed him and welcomed him into their home. He almost felt he should refuse the meal, but the scent of the steaming stew made his stomach churn loudly. “Thank you,” he said again, and picked up the spoon. “What time is it?”
“An hour to midnight,” Kalai said.
Tauran released a breath. He’d been out for nearly five hours. For a while, the only sound in the room was Tauran’s spoon against the clay bowl, but this time, it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.
“We’ve been talking about the wild dragons,” Kalai said. He sat on the floor with his back to the fireplace. “The attacks on Valreus.”
Tauran frowned, pausing with a spoonful of vegetable stew halfway to his mouth. It was tasty, despite the limited range of marsh ingredients. “If Falka has been stealing wild fledglings from their parents, it’s no wonder the wild dragons keep attacking.”
“Exactly.” Kalai sighed. “Wild dragons guard their young for three years after hatching, and will continue to aid them long after that.”
Tauran shook his head. He thought about Jasper and Flora. How fond Jasper was of her, and how eager he was to do right by her. It wasn’t his fault his dragon had been stolen. Falka had likely fed the recruits the same lie about the abandoned eggs. And Tauran had encouraged Jasper to keep mistreating her to keep Falka’s attention off him. “Skies damn it, it’s all such a mess.” He placed his spoon in his empty bowl. How much chaos could a single man create? A lot, it seemed.
“It made me think of Leyra,” Kalai continued, and the apprehension in his voice gave Tauran pause. “Remember we talked about her just before we spotted this place in the distance? There’s only one female titan here that we know of. Excellor is a male.”
Tauran felt his heart sink. It wasn’t the first time the thought crossed his mind. That Leyra was most certainly the Executioner’s daughter. He’d accepted the lie that her egg had been abandoned like the rest of the recruits’ dragons. Had Falka stolen her egg directly from her mother’s nest? “The Executioner has been leading every attack since Leyra’s egg was brought into the city,” Tauran whispered. “The night we fled… I think one of the wild dragons was killed in the guard grounds.”
“Falka won’t stop,” Andreus said.
Tauran squeezed his eyes shut. A headache threatened to form behind his eyes. “If Falka keeps this up, there might not be any wild dragons left a decade from now.” He looked at Kalai. “What about the dragon masters? They’ve lived with the wild dragons for thousands of years.”
Kalai rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. “I don’t know. They keep to themselves.”
“The Sharoani granted Valreus dragon eggs when our people first settled here, as a sign of good faith,” Tauran said. “You said the Sharoani disagree with their ancestors’ decisions. Couldn’t they be encouraged to help us stop Falka?”
Kalai shook his head. “Even if they want to, they can’t. We’re a people of peace, Tauran. We’re not equipped to fight anyone.”
Hali spoke in Sharoani, drawing Kalai’s attention. Tauran looked between them. A line formed between Kalai’s brows.
“What?” Tauran asked.
“She says that if Leyra is truly the Executioner’s daughter, then we can use Leyra to communicate with the Executioner. Encourage her to stay away from Valreus. Maybe even move her nest site to a place the Sky Guard can’t find.” Kalai’s eyes shone with hope.
Tauran huffed out a sound. “And how in the skies would we pull that off?”
It was Hali who answered. “The eldest master in the dragon temples can call Ibi-shao.”
“And then what?” Tauran asked. “How are we going to convince the largest predator in the world to uproot her home and move half a hundred wild dragons to… skies know where. It’s not like she speaks Kykarosi. Or Sharoani, for that matter. It’s an animal.”
“A very smart animal,” Andreus said.
“But an animal, nonetheless.”
“If there’s a chance,” Kalai chimed in, “that we could keep at least a few wild dragons safe, I think it’s worth the shot.” He stared at Tauran, fire in his eyes. “I haven’t known you to back down from a challenge.”