“I’ve told her everything,” I assured him. “She’s welcome to know what more I should learn.”
“Very well,” he agreed, reaching into a pocket within his coat, “I also have a gift for you.” He pulled out something that was folded up in leather, and proceeded to unfold it until he’d revealed what was inside. “It was your father’s.”
It was pendant on a long chain necklace. A dragon made of some dark metal with its tail hung and twisted around a black opal, a stone so dark that the red, blue, yellow, and green specks within it seemed to glow by some unnatural light. It was enchanting to look at. It called to me, attracted my attention as though it were saying my name. I reached out to accept it, but Kingston clasped his hand over it before I could touch it.
He gave me an apologetic smile. “Allow me to explain, before you take it.” I nodded eagerly. “It was your father’s, given to him by his father, and his father’s mother, and so on.” He carefully removed his hand to offer me another glimpse, for some reason watching closely to ensure I didn’t make contact. “Nilan, your father, told me of a legend, of a small village deep in the mountains of the Amalgam Plains. So deep, Kiena, they lived alongside dragons.”
I didn’t say anything, intent on listening, but Ava took in a breath and leaned forward with interest.
“Dragons all over the world were being hunted,” Kingston continued. “These were some of the last. Armies wouldn’t venture so deep into the mountains, but dragon hunters would, and did. So the dragons communed with the earth gods to seek protection. In exchange for that protection, the gods were able to take some of the dragons’ strength and offer it to the villagers as different kinds of magic. Skin walking, control of beasts or the elements or even humans, the ability to heal oneself or to disappear or move on a cloud of smoke.”
Kingston paused to remove the necklace from the leather, and dangled it before me. “That magic was bestowed through these; pendants, warded against darkness and given each villager, compatible with their blood only. Thus, compatible with their bloodlines.”
“This,” I began, motioning toward the necklace, “is magic? Dragon magic?”
“It’s what your father believed,” he confirmed. “I’ve not put it in your hand because, once you touch it, there is no going back. You will have your bloodline’s abilities.”
“Which were?” I asked, my eyes fixated on the gemstone. I was so tempted to reach out and touch it, but there was an instinctive fear of magic that caused my heart to speed up and my hands to remain at my knees.
“The elements, mostly,” Kingston answered. “Your father governed the earth and water, just like his father, and I tell you, until his death, he seemed almost immune to injury. His grandmother controlled fire and weather. The gods taught your ancestors how to control their magic, lessons that have been diluted and lost through the ages.” He lowered the necklace back into the leather. “If your bloodline contained other abilities, your father didn’t know of it.” He extended the leather and pendant, setting it down in my hand so the necklace never touched my skin. “There is risk, Kiena, in any magic. Should you not be able to control it, you will be consumed by it. You will be a danger to yourself and others. Do not accept that gift lightly.”
I stared down at the necklace in my hand, considering the risk Kingston spoke of. I had no desire to chance harming anyone I cared about, even if it was on accident. “How did my father learn?”
“His father taught him,” he answered, with a twinge of sympathetic sadness in his voice.
“And you?” I suggested hopefully. “You can’t help me?”
Kingston shook his head. “My apologies, Kiena, I know nothing of what it takes to practice magic.”
I offered a small smile to let him know it was fine. “Thank you for keeping it safe all these years.”
“I had hoped to find you someday,” he said with a nod. “As it happens, you found me.”
He paused for a thoughtful moment, eyes going wide as if he’d suddenly remembered something, and then he pulled two more necklaces out of his pocket. These were each made of glittering steel. The medallion was only the size of a copper coin and in the shape of an arrowhead, point downward and with such a large head of an owl in it that all you could really see was the eyes, tufts of its ears, and its beak.
“This is our symbol,” he said. “If you ever see someone with this, you can trust them. We are the Vigilant. Your father chose that name.” He gave one to each of us by putting it around our necks, and then reached under the neck of his own tunic to show that he was wearing one too. “You never know when you might need a friend.” We nodded with understanding, and he watched us for a few seconds before rising to his feet. “I should go and see to preparations. Come find me if you need anything.”
We both gave him grateful smiles as he left. Once he was gone, I took to studying the dragon necklace in my hands again, and I could feel Ava leaning into me to get a better look too. The idea that it would give me magic if I simply touched it was both exciting and terrifying. There were so many dangers attached to it, and, for now, I was convinced those dangers might outweigh the benefits.
“Would you like to see it?” I asked Ava with a laugh, because she was leaning into me so much it had begun to knock me over.
She nudged me teasingly for the sarcasm behind my tone, and reached out to take the pendant from the leather wrapping. She should have been able to touch it like Kingston had, but the moment her hand set on it, there was a flash of pale blue sparks, like lightning. They jumped at Ava’s fingers, and even though she’d let out a yelp of pain and yanked her hand back, the sparks followed, biting at her for seconds until she’d shaken it out. But once the shocks were gone, she froze, as if petrified, for only a short second before she gasped and the brilliant blue of her eyes turned a swirl of dark, blood red.
“Ava?” I prompted, tossing the necklace aside in my intense worry.
She shut her eyes tight and pressed the heels of her hands to them. “My back,” she muttered, sucking in a hard breath through her teeth.
I obeyed the implied instruction, and lifted the fur and her tunic up to expose her skin. The crow-shaped scar on it was glowing the same blood red her eyes had turned. Kingston said the pendant was warded against darkness. It had to be true. It had to have triggered whatever this mark was for, and that was concerning in more ways than I cared to think about.
Ava took in a slow, controlled breath, and as she let it out again the glowing faded, until once more, it was simply a scar. I let her clothes fall back down, meeting her gaze to find that her blue eyes were full of tears.
“Are you alright?” I asked, cupping her face in my hands and using my thumb to wipe away a tear.
“I am cursed,” she sniffled. Saying those words caused a few more drops to spill down her cheeks. “I saw him. I saw Hazlitt.” She reached up, taking one of my hands from her face to squeeze it hard in her own. “And he saw me.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing with unease. “Does he know where we are?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I saw where he was, at the castle. So he might.” She pulled away from my hand with a sense of urgency, blinking away the tears. “We must leave.” She stood and buckled her sword’s belt around her waist, and then began to roll up the sleeping furs so hastily that she did a messy job of it. “I cannot allow something to happen to the people here should we stay any longer.”
“Ava.” I stood up too, but she ignored me to set the furs by the door, returning to roll the second set. After frantically setting those by the door too, she opened it, glancing out as though she expected Hazlitt to be here already. I strode over and grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her around to face me. “Ava,” I insisted, “be still.” And though it looked difficult, she met my eyes and tried not to move. “Are you alright? Did it hurt you?”