Transcendent

CHAPTER ONE

Jordan and Sol stood upon the apartment’s terrace, watching the tower shadows stretch long fingers over the landscape of Upper Rodania. Sol’s arm was looped under Jordan’s wings and around her waist. She leaned into his warmth as the late afternoon breeze tugged at her hair. A thin layer of fluffy cloud hung low over the roofs and peaks of the Rodanian towers and palaces.There were patches of blackened ruins where dragonfire had scorched buildings, and timbers and beams jutted from wreckage like broken ribs. It was going to take some time to restore Rodania to its pre-harpy glory.

The peace of the scene before them masked a profound unrest among the citizens. No one knew if or when there might be another harpy attack.

The apartment had been cleaned, and the extra mattresses removed from the bedroom and taken to the ground floor apartment they’d rented as temporary lodging for Eohne and Allan. But there were still missing and broken tiles on the terrace, cracked and broken countertops in the kitchen, and gouges criss-crossing the hardwood floor from sharp harpy talons.

Sol pressed his lips to Jordan’s temple and gazed down at her. “Do you think Eohne and your dad will be happier down there? You haven’t just been saying that to make me feel better?”

Jordan nodded. “They’ll be happier in their own space and it’ll be a lot easier for them to get around, too.” A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I wonder what Eohne’s plans are, now that my dad is back to normal. I assume she’ll be heading back to Charra-Rae one of these days.”

Sol made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat. He didn’t like the idea of losing their Elven friend, either. Eohne had become so much a part of their lives, she would leave a gaping hole if she went back to her forest home.

“Look.” Sol squeezed Jordan and jutted his chin toward the cloud cover in the east.

A huge shadow darkened the sky, and the clouds disintegrated as the colossal red dragon materialized over Upper Rodania. Her nearly incomprehensible wingspan blocked out the early evening light, casting a long, dark shape over the hills and villages. As she approached, she seemed to grow until she filled half the sky. The red scales of her belly were the color of dried blood. Her wings beat slowly, gracefully, almost lazily, even as her body appeared impossibly light for all its bulk and sinew.

Jordan’s heart beat faster as they watched the she-dragon make one of her rare appearances in the skies over Rodania. Views of her had been few since the harpy battle, and Jordan had often wondered if the creature had left Rodania for good. Blue had come to visit every few days, never staying long and always winging away to the west. Jordan figured the dragons had to be living somewhere north of Maticaw, where the wilderness could sustain them.

Jordan briefly tore her eyes away from the dragon to skim the scene below, where the skies had emptied of Strix. Everyone who had been traveling landed to watch with upturned faces. All movement had ceased, save for the dragon’s. Her body tilted as she descended.

“They won’t be kicking her or Blue out anytime soon,” Sol said quietly into Jordan’s ear.

“Like they could even if they wanted to.” She felt Sol nod in agreement beside her.

“I heard the Council has already changed the law against dragons.” Sol chuckled. “No one ever expected one of the most dangerous predators of Oriceran to become Rodania’s savior.”

They watched as the red dragon set her enormous clawed feet on the rounded mounds of grass of a vast park. Behind her, a tall ragged overhang of granite framed her shape and made a striking visual. The heavy head swung and the jaws opened as she turned to look up and back over her shoulder.

Her white fangs glinted as she released a long roar, her ribs contracting. The thunderous sound filled the sky and seemed to shake the foundations of the buildings. There was an answering roar, and Blue banked around their tower and drifted lazily toward his mate. He landed in the grass in a much clumsier manner and ambled up to her with his nose low to the ground. Blue had not ceased to grow, now larger than a transport truck, but next to his mate, he still seemed like a hatchling. The two dragons greeted one another. Blue lifted his head and seemed to look right at Jordan and Sol. His jaw clicked rapidly, his teeth rattling off a series of quick snaps followed by a snort.

“I think that was an invitation.” Jordan patted Sol on the forearm. “Shall we go down?”

“Think she’d let us approach her?” Sol stared at the red reptile with uncertainty.

“Only one way to find out.” Jordan grinned. “I’ve been wanting to thank her. How about you?”

Sol nodded, and the two Arpaks leapt from the tower in a dive. They let themselves drift slowly toward the waiting reptiles, giving them plenty of warning that visitors were coming. Landing in the grass not far away, Jordan and Sol closed their wings and walked slowly. Both sets of reptilian eyes locked on them, watching benignly as they crossed the field.

Blue let off a whistle in the back of his throat and ambled to meet Jordan, shoving his snout into her palm.

“Hi, buddy. It’s been a while.” She stroked the scales along his neck. “Think you could introduce us to your girlfriend? We don’t really fancy being barbecued, so if you could put in a kind word, it would be appreciated.”

Beyond Blue, almost as if in answer, the red dragon lowered her belly to the grass and relaxed. The arch of her spine flattened, and her sinewy tail lay still. Her broad face tilted to the side, and she watched them through an eye the size of a tractor tire.

Blue wandered to the shallow cave created by the rock arching up behind his mate. He snuffed around in the shrubs and dirt, seemingly oblivious to the nerve-wracking introduction going on behind him.

Slowly, the Arpaks approached, as the enormous reptile watched them come with her steady, unblinking gaze. Jordan’s heart rate doubled and her breath hitched with awe. It was impossible to tear her eyes away from the red beast’s terrible beauty. So similar to Blue in shape and design, but where Blue was dog-like in his good-natured way, she was as smooth and elegant as a big cat. Her movements, heavy with bulk and muscle, cloaked an awful power.

Jordan’s eyes skimmed the smooth, diamond-shaped scales, the way they glittered with an opalescent sheen in the diffused light. The red of her snout  was a bright, fire-engine shade, which shifted to a blood-red along her neck, then to mottled and mixed shades of maroon, brick, and scarlet over the rest of her massive body.

Jordan heard Sol let out a long, awe-laced sigh. “Aren’t you a beauty,” he said under his breath.

Two elegant black horns, not unlike the curved spikes that topped the female harpies they’d fought mere weeks before, crowned the dragon’s head. A row of bony spikes linked together by a membrane lay flat and folded like an accordion against her neck. Those spikes had stood erect during battle, jutting straight up from her spine as she’d exhaled fiery death.

The vertical slashes of her eyes shifted between Jordan and Sol, her pupils narrowing as she focused on them. She lowered her snout slowly, as Jordan approached first, with her hand out.

Respectfully, Jordan lay her hand against the cool scales. Heart thudding like a drum, she watched the nostrils flare, smelling her. Sol stood back, watching with some reticence. He didn’t think it would be possible to fully relax in the presence of such an immense and dangerous animal.

“Thank you,” said Jordan to the dragon, her palm resting against the reptile’s nose.

The red dragon’s eyes shifted a fraction, and a hot breath issued from her nostrils.

“You know what we have to call her, right?”

Jordan glanced over her shoulder at Sol, a crooked grin on her face.

“Yeah.”

“Red,” the two Arpaks said at once.

Jordan laughed and turned back to the dragon. “That okay with you, Mrs.?”

A long clicking growl ending on a sigh emitted from the dragon’s throat.

“Does that mean yes?” Sol stepped a little closer.

“No idea, but I think it’s going to stick whether she likes it or not. I can’t imagine calling her anything else.”

Sol was gazing past the dragon and the borders of the park. “We’ve got quite an audience.”

Jordan looked up to see the distant shapes of Strix watching from terraces in the towers of Upper Rodania. “She’s not something you see every day.”

“Especially here,” Sol added. “With the exception of miniatures, Rodania has always been a strict no-dragon zone.”

A thought caught at Jordan’s mind, and she frowned. She let her hand drop and stepped back from Red. “The border magic is still functional, right?”

“That’s right,” Sol nodded. “It’s only harpies that seem to have breached the magic barrier.” Then he frowned too as he realized what Jordan was driving at. His lips parted in wonderment. “Oh,” he breathed. His eyes drifted from Jordan to Red. “Why didn’t we think of it earlier?”

“I’m sure someone has asked the question,” replied Jordan. “We’ve just been so busy cleaning up after the battle and setting Rodania to rights that we haven’t had time to consider it. And no one wants the dragons to leave us exposed, in case the harpies rally and return, so they’re not pressing the point.” Jordan chewed her lip. “If it’s only harpies that have broken through, and the border magic is still functional for everyone else…”

Sol stepped forward and finally set a hand on Red’s nose, finishing Jordan’s thought. “Then how did you get through?”