The Dragon’s Daughter and the Winter Mage by Jeffe Kennedy
~ 24 ~
The precipitous fall—and the double blows of the whipping tail and the harsh landing on the jagged ice—stunned Gen. It wasn’t true that cats always landed on their feet. If only.
She recovered just in time to see Isyn disappear into the giant’s mouth. Zeph swooped low, Jak shouting at Gen to retreat. Astar was roaring at her, too. On the promontory, a portal shimmered, Lena, Stella, and Rhy, still in wolf form, silhouetted by the light of it.
She’d promised Astar, promised all of them, that she’d retreat when ordered to. That had been a condition of the entire rescue. It had been an easy promise to make, because she’d been so certain any retreat would include Isyn—or would mean he was lost to her forever.
She refused to believe he was lost.
The ice beneath her paws shuddered, icy water soaking the fur between her toe pads. The giant was melting, losing shape, seawater pouring off of it in buckets as the ocean reclaimed itself and the animating intelligence fled. Where was Isyn? He couldn’t melt. He had to be there still. They hadn’t come all this way, gone to such lengths to heal him, only to lose him again.
“Isyn!”she called as she clambered over the shards of ice that had broken, refrozen, broken again—and now were melting into a soup. Her back paw slipped, briefly dunking her in the shockingly cold water. At least the saber-cat form handled the icy water well.
“Isyn!”she called again, ignoring Zeph and Astar’s strident calls and Jak’s increasingly foul Dasnarian curses. She didn’t care what they’d do to her. Nothing could be worse than losing Isyn.
“Isyn!”she called a third time, the ice beneath her giving way and submerging her entirely before she kicked to the surface, striking out with her paws for purchase—but only bobbing chunks of ice met her efforts, sliding away. If only she could change form. She tried, doing her utmost to find orca form. Isyn had to be in the water, drowning even as she wasted time, the intelligence finally completing its task. She’d heard what it said to Isyn. I killed you. You drowned. You should be dead.
And now it was finishing the job.
Not while she had breath in her body.
Letting herself sink, she tried again to shift and failed. She needed to find Isyn. He could trigger her shift. The water was dark, almost lightless and bone-numbingly cold. She could barely see, couldn’t scent Isyn at all.
You’ve been searching for him your whole life,she told herself fiercely. Are you going to just let him go now? No. No, she wasn’t. But she would trade her life for his.
Moranu!She prayed with all the intensity she could muster, seeking help from the goddess as she almost never did. Zynda’s devotion to the goddess had gotten her literally killed. Her favors are not guaranteed. Our lives and efforts aren’t coin we pay to obtain something in return. Nevertheless, Gen had to try. Perhaps her mother’s devotion would weigh on Gen’s side of the equation.
Moranu, please,she prayed as fervently as she knew how. Let Isyn live. He’s barely had a life, and he deserves so much more. Take mine instead.
The water swirled around her, black and multifaceted at once, filled with living shadows. Forms and shapes emerged and hid again, reminding her of Isyn’s painting. Then the many-faced goddess of shadows spoke. I don’t want your life, dragon’s daughter.
Then what do You want?she asked desperately. Whatever the price, I’ll pay.
The goddess tsked. One doesn’t pay for favors. They must be freely given. Gifts offered with no thought of receiving anything in return, not even gratitude. There is nothing more precious than the gift given freely.
I have nothing to give.
Ah, but that’s not true.
Gen thought frantically. Moranu didn’t want her life, but She did want something freely given. Something precious. Something equivalent to all Gen wished for Isyn: the opportunity to build the life that had been stolen from him. In that moment, her quest for true love seemed childish and shallow. She’d been searching for someone to fill a fantasy role, not really thinking about what it meant to truly love another person. They’d had their moments together, their nest away from the world, and they’d loved in that so-short time, loved passionately and intimately. And she’d saved up those memories. Nothing could take that away from her.
I’ll give up Isyn,she offered. Isyn doesn’t have to be mine.
Done. You’ll need a better form to save him, though.
The water suddenly cleared, no longer numbingly cold, but refreshing. She could see, and she sensed Isyn immediately. Diving for him, she moved through the water like flying, the fluid parting for her like air. Seizing Isyn’s limp form in her forepaws, she carefully caged him—still holding the Silversteel sword in a death grip—in her talons, then shot upward.
She burst through the ice like it was nothing, soaring into the air, her wings catching with ease despite her burden. Zeph, looking surprisingly small, circled her with a cry of triumph, relief, and joy all combined. The pair of them struck out for the rock promontory where the others all stood, pointing at them, Lena jumping up and down.
Backwinging to land on her hind legs a short distance away—a good thing she’d observed her mother’s dragon-form skills many times—Gen carefully deposited Isyn on the rocks. He stirred, stared up at her. “Magnificent,” he whispered, and passed out again.
Then Jak and Astar were there, Jak helping to scoop Isyn up into Astar’s strong grizzly arms.
“You’ll never fit through the portal like that,” Jak told Gen, halting Astar so he could dig through Isyn’s pocket for the sodden piece of net. He held it out to Gen as Astar carried Isyn to the portal and stepped through. Lena and Rhy were already gone. “You might blend into the landscape, but I don’t think you want to be the Dragon of the Winter Isles forever, so figure it out. And hurry. Stella can’t hold the portal open much longer.”
Dragonform.
Dragon form.
Dragon form.
She’d finally gotten it. Or rather, Moranu had given it to her. Looking down at her own hands—taloned feet—she understood Jak’s remark. She was snow white, with vague silver-gray markings. And she was enormous. Powerful, invincible, and extraordinary, as she’d always imagined dragon form would be. The one thing she’d always wanted, and it was hers.
Well, one of two things: dragon form and true love. And she’d given up the latter.
Now she at least had dragon form. One of two. But what if this was the only time for her? Astar had achieved dragon form only that once and never again. He seemed cheerfully unconcerned about it, but she could imagine her life stretching before her, empty of love, with no chance of feeling this way again. No, worse—she still loved Isyn with everything in her. The goddess hadn’t taken that away, so it must be that Isyn wouldn’t return her love.
That would be true agony.
Or, she could stay here in the Winter Isles, in dragon form. She’d be immortal. And forever heartbroken.
“Gen,” Jak said, still holding out the rope. “You have to shift. We’re waiting on you.”
All the others had disappeared through the portal. Gen spread her wings, longing to stretch them, to discover what this form could do. Better that than to live without love.
“Gen,” Stella called, her expression abstract with concentration, her eyes alight with silver magic as she read Gen’s emotions. Or her future. “Remember what you said on the sailboat. Don’t overlook the very real and enduring love we all have for you. Don’t leave us.”
Chagrined, Gen dipped her chin in acknowledgment. She’d offered up Isyn’s love to save him, but her life would not be an empty one, not if she filled it with love. And she already had so much of it. Look at Stella with her shining eyes, holding the portal open. Jak, utterly serious for once, offering the bit of rope and looking as if he’d stick it to her with a dagger if she refused. Reaching out a long ivory talon—the same shade as Isyn’s hair—she touched the rope.
And nothing happened.
Jak swore viciously. “We need Isyn’s magery. Call him back.”
“I can’t,” Stella said. “I could only make a portal that goes in one direction.”
Something shifted inside Gen, and she realized the power indeed lay within her. Moranu had given the gift, the thing Gen had sought all her life, and She hadn’t asked for anything, not even gratitude.
Nevertheless, Gen sent the surge of gratitude, and yes, love.
And gave up dragon form.
Jak blinked at her sudden collapse back to human form only a moment before seizing her wrist and hauling her to the portal. Taking Stella’s hand in his other one, he pulled them both through, and Gen braced for whatever they’d find on the other side.
Whatever life brought, she would be grateful.
