The cavern. I could feel it again around me—but it was removed and distant due to the roar of all of the dragon voices in my head. There was scrabbling and grunting, and I recognized Nol Baggar’s gasps of effort as he sought to free himself from the sand.
“It is the Crown. It connects with all dragons.” Ymmen’s voice was steadying to my heart, as I realized that what he was telling me was true. All of this had started happening as soon as I had placed the Stone Crown on my head, hadn’t it? I had felt that echo of frankincense and soot as soon as my fingers had touched its cool rock. And I had been able to reach out and sense the gigantic yellow dragon before me.
That was why everyone wanted the Stone Crown. I remembered the legends that Montfre had shared with me, when we had talked about Inyene’s obsession with the artifact. It wasn’t just that it was a symbol of the original empress of the Three Kingdoms, and of the Dragon Riders; it was that the Stone Crown could reach out—and perhaps even command—all of dragon-kind.
“Sskrargh!” There was a sudden roar of pain from Ymmen as one of the mechanical dragons landed on his back. The mechanical dragon was smaller than Ymmen was, and I knew in a heartbeat that it had been Ymmen’s concern for me that had forced his attention elsewhere and allowed him to be attacked so easily.
Ymmen writhed as he spun down through the air, with the mechanical dragon mauling at his scales with those sword-claws—
“Nari! He’s getting away!” And there was Naroba’s voice, crying out to me in her own pain and distress as she must have been talking about the captain of the Red Hounds. The anger and the worry for Ymmen, as well as the frustration and all of the pain that I had been dealt to get here crystalized inside of my heart.
I knew what I had to do, and I knew how to do it.
“Stop him!” I commanded, and in response the giant yellow dragon lashed out with its tail.
“Urk!” There was a muffled gasp of pain as the tail wrapped itself around the retreating mercenary captain, and Nol Baggar was lifted up into the air.
I could hear screaming—it was Naroba, overcome by the horror of everything that was happening around her—as well as the mental echoes of screaming through Ymmen’s senses, as the people above us fought—and died.
But out there, on the periphery of my mind, I could still sense all of the other dragon voices—all of their burning dragon souls.
“Arise! Hear me and rise!” I shouted to them, reaching to them with my voice and my heart and the power of the Stone Crown. “Fight for your kind! Help us!” I called to them, as if by some instinct, not even totally aware of what I was doing.
But the hundreds of dragon voices responded, and I could feel the flames of their hearts flare brighter. In my ears there was a terrible crunching snap, and a thump as Nol Baggar’s body hit the floor. The gigantic yellow dragon was moving, leaping upward into the air to claw at the ceiling of rock, crystal, and sand.
“Nari!” Naroba screamed as the ground shook, and rocks and sand poured down around us.
Abioye! I thought in horror, and my sudden fear overtook the siren-song power of the Stone Crown, hurling me back into the little human body that was my home.
The yellow dragon was clawing and punching at the ceiling of the cavern, reaching up to grab at the rocks above, hauling itself upward as sand poured all around it. It was heading for the surface, and it was threatening to bring this entire cavern down around us! I broke into a run across the cavern, dodging falling boulders and Earth Lights that were as large as my body to reach the spot where Abioye still swam and struggled against the sands.
“I got you!” I seized his hand, our eyes connecting for a moment as I pulled him backwards. He was coughing, spluttering and injured—but he was alive. “We get Naroba!” I shouted over the roar of the collapsing cavern, as now the yellow dragon was only half inside the cavern as it continued to tunnel and scrabble upwards.
It was responding to my call, I knew—and, even as we turned to run frantically back to where Naroba was screaming—there was a part of my mind that could still feel the many other dragon-songs, and knew that this yellow dragon wasn’t the only one that was responding to the call of the Stone Crown…
Chapter 26
The Battle of the Plains
“In here, quickly!” I called to my two injured friends as the cavern around us shook and rumbled with the passage of the yellow dragon. There was a small hollow of a cave a little way off the floor of the cavern, and the way that the rocks had formed meant that there was a deep overhang over the entrance. More sand fell from the punctured roof, and I was wading through the stuff by the time I had managed to prop Abioye up in the hollow, and then help Naroba join him.
The roaring sound was everywhere, and my skin was starting to feel abraded and dry by the clouds of sand being released into the cavern. My chest felt like it was burning as the pouring sand set up billows of dust clouds as well.
“What if we get buried?” Naroba coughed through gritted teeth, her skin ashy with pain.
“We won’t,” I insisted, although even I would have to admit that was a guess if I was pressed. But the overhang of the cave meant that it would create a bubble of air, I was sure of it.
But still, the sand hissed and the walls trembled just past our cave entrance, and soon all I could see when I looked out and down was a solid mat of yellow.
“Narissea…!” Abioye was coughing. I looked to see his eyes were glued on the Stone Crown that rode upon my brow. “It’s the Stone Crown—you found it!” He had to gasp and splutter to get his words out. I nodded, my throat burning too much to say anything.
Ymmen? I threw my thought up to him. There was still a battle raging top side, and I had no idea how it was going.
“I live, Little Sister.” I heard his voice return into my mind, and I could feel his injuries at the edge of his thoughts—he was doing his best to keep them from me, I could tell—but the Stone Crown meant that I could see farther and deeper into the dragon’s heart and soul than I could on my own.
You are hurt. Badly, I told him seriously. Get out of there. Fly away!
“Never!” Ymmen growled fiercely as he swooped and flew high over the battle. “I will never leave this place until you are safe!” Through his eyes, I could see great plumes of thick smoke rising here and there across the Shifting Sands, as well as tiny figures of our ragtag army running here and there, or doing what they could to fire arrows or throw spears up at the mechanical dragons. It was a hopeless battle against so many of Inyene’s monsters, who were darting down to the ground and flying back up again like the vultures of the Plains circling and descending on a fresh kill. Some of the mechanical dragons had settled on the ground, and were even now racing between the sand dunes, hunting and in turn being attacked by what was left of the people I had fought alongside.
But Ymmen surprised me. His heart was not afflicted with despair or worry. Instead, it was filled with a rising song of triumph.
How can he be happy about this? I thought, until his eyes moved, showing me where there was a great disturbance in the sands. As I watched, I could see through Ymmen’s eyes that one entire half of a long sand dune appeared to be collapsing in on itself, forming a whirlpool as it sank into the ground.