“How had no one realized that before?” Silver said, her hand absently patting the baby water dragon’s side.
“Because when bonds were taken away, dragons became temperamental. They were chained to ships … beaten until they frothed with rage … and then released into cities. Gulad knew that there could be love and respect between humans and dragons. His heart was pure, his intentions only to care for his dragon. And so for the first time in many years, a dragon bonded with a human.”
Nebekker suddenly put her hand over her heart and winced. Her breathing got heavy.
Silver leaned forward. “Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine.” Nebekker sat silent for a few moments, catching her breath. “Let me finish my story. Gulad and his Aquinder rode into battle and changed the tide of the wars. Soon enough, more humans were able to ride Aquinder, but still no other bonds were known.
“With so much of the earth laid to waste, the island king and desert king finally agreed to end the war. They signed a treaty to unify their people, so that all island royalty would be partnered to landed royalty, and vice versa.”
“What about Gulad? And his dragon?” Silver whispered.
“Part of the treaty required that all Aquinder be slaughtered,” Nebekker said darkly. “They were considered too dangerous to be near humans.”
“They could have just released them back to the seas,” Silver cried.
“For the next warmongering king to seek and capture?” Nebekker pierced Silver with a look from her jade eyes. “They killed them all. But they missed several eggs left in nests in the vast desert, and I believe Kirja is the offspring of one of those. Gulad had to have been doing something when he was in the desert. But for all his pains, they killed him, too, hoping bonds would die with him. Kings and queens did not like the idea of anyone other than themselves being able to control dragons.”
“But it’s not control,” Silver said, a lump forming in her throat. She lay a protective hand over the sleeping water dragon.
“No.” Nebekker smiled. “But they didn’t have the capabilityto see it that way, the way it really is. But you will, now that you’re bonded.”
“What does it mean to be bonded?” Silver asked.
“Your lifeblood pumps at the same rate. You breathe in and out together. You stay by each other’s side forever. You would do anything the other needs. Even die for each other. And when that day of death comes for one, the other cannot live,” Nebekker said fiercely. “To be bonded is the most beautiful experience a dragon-loving human can have. I was only a girl about your age when Kirja found me, but when I saw her, well, it felt like my body had been torn in half and stitched back together with her blood in me.”
“Oh.” It was a strange way to describe meeting a water dragon for the first time. And yet …
Silver put her hand to her chest, making sure she, too, hadn’t been torn in half.
“When I saw Kirja, I knew exactly what she was,” Nebekker said sadly. “Like you, I was stunned to discover that Aquinder still lived. Barely … she had been injured. Attacked by another dragon, perhaps. I went to her every single day and nursed her back to health. Kirja lived in a cave at the shore for several years. I went to her every single day. I weaved a harness and rode her over the waves. Until a girl in my village saw us. I knew we had to run. If people knew Aquinder were still alive—”
“But Sagittaria knows now,” Silver exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “She can’t bring Kirja back to Calidia.”
“Sagittaria Wonder will be halfway across the vast desert by now. She has trained her whole life for the moment she could mount an Aquinder and soar through the skies.”
“But they’re not bonded,” Silver cried.
“Do you think all the other Aquinder that were ridden into battle were bonded with their humans? Of course not. Dragons can be trained to take any rider, using the right methods. Or coerced, as I’m sure my Kirja will be.”
“If they kill Kirja”—Silver’s heart pounded—“what will happen to you?”
“They won’t do that. She’s far too valuable to them.”
“She wants to race Kirja,” Silver said, suddenly remembering the parchment Sagittaria Wonder had dropped in her father’s shop. “Sagittaria left me this flyer.” She pulled it from the sleeve of her riding suit. Across the top, the flyer featured a drawing of Sagittaria Wonder sitting in the saddle of her favorite racing dragon, Riptide.
Silver read out loud: “‘The Desert Nations Autumn Festival World Water Dragon Racing Qualifiers and Semifinals. Registration on-site for established and claimant dragons.’”
A cool, blunt water dragon nose nudged the flyer from Silver’s hand. The Aquinder grinned at Silver and waved its tail side to side.
“Playtime, is it?” Silver grinned, and so did the Aquinder. The water dragon splashed into the river. When Silver didn’t follow, he poked his head back out and mewled.
“Sorry,” she said, “I can’t swim.”
Nebekker shook her head. “Can’t swim, but you think you can race water dragons.” She lifted the fallen parchment with a toe.
“I’ll learn!” Silver grabbed the flyer. “What it says here … ‘Claimant dragons’ … what’s that all about?”
“All desert-based water dragons are by default owned byQueen Imea, unless registered. Then, the rider or the rider’s sponsor owns them. Racing is one way to register them. It’s protection for the dragon and its owner.”
“But that means if Sagittaria races Kirja in the Autumn Festival, you’ll lose her forever.”
“Their law is not my law. Kirja and I will always belong to each other. They don’t understand bonds, but when Kirja stops obeying them they’ll come for me to force her to do what they say. They’ll—”
Suddenly, Silver understood. “Use you. Imprison you. Harm you when Kirja won’t do what they tell her to do. I won’t let that happen!”
Nebekker snorted. “What are you going to do about it? You can hardly walk in a straight line without falling over.”
“I’ll think of something. I know I will.” A fire flared to life in Silver’s chest.
“Right now you should focus on thinking up a name for that baby dragon.”
Silver pointed to herself. “Me?”
As though he knew they were talking about him, the Aquinder came back to Silver, forcing his head under her arm and giving her a reproachful look when she didn’t immediately start petting him.
“You’re his bonded human, not me.” Nebekker stood and stretched her arms above her head. She turned away, trembling, and wrapped a few blankets around her shoulders. She began to hum and work her hands, but Silver couldn’t see what she was doing. Silver’s hand absentmindedly patted the Aquinder by her side.
Her Aquinder.
“Nebekker, does our bond mean that from now on … forevermore … I have to live in hiding?”
“Once, there was a woman who tried to hide her Aquinder from the world. She came to a city in the deep desert where no one, she thought, spent time thinking about water dragons. Then she met a meddling girl who thought of nothing but water dragons. The woman taught the girl a special craft, meant to help the girl find her way out of the city so that the city would remain safe for the woman and the dragon she hid.”
Nebekker opened her mouth, as if to say something more, but she hesitated as she looked at Silver. Warmth blossomed on her face slowly, like a desert flower opening at sunrise.