They continued north along roads. The dragons flew in rotation, two always airborne while one rested with the ground party. It was strange, traveling with creatures that could cover in an hour what took the horses all day. But Miranda explained the necessity. The dragons needed to conserve their strength for the crossing ahead, and the horses couldn't be abandoned.

  "Besides," she added, watching Stormscale circle lazily overhead, "the dragons like the exercise. Cooped up in camp, they get restless. Restless dragons burn things."

  On the eighth day, they crested a final ridge and Clive saw the sea. It stretched to the horizon, vast and blue under a sky heavy with clouds. The wind hit them, carrying salt and the cries of seabirds.

  "The North Sea," Louis announced. "Coldest waters in the known world. The currents run strange here, pulled by forces even the scholars don't fully understand. He gestured at the churning expanse below. "No ship can cross it. The waters swallow everything. Even the best sailors won't attempt it."

  Clive stared at the roiling surface below. "Then how do we get across?"

  "The only way anyone ever has." Miranda said. "We fly."

  "The horses stay here," Louis continued. "There's a garrison post a half-day's ride west. They'll be stabled until our return. From this point forward, we travel by dragon only."

  Clive’s heart raced as he realized the implications. He was finally going to fulfil a childhood dream.

  The next few hours were a blur of preparation. The horses were sent off with a small escort toward the garrison. Supplies were redistributed.

  "Weight matters," Guma explained as he helped Clive secure his pack to Emberwing's harness. "The crossing takes six hours if the winds favor us, ten if they don't. The dragons can carry us and fight the currents, but not if we're loaded down with unnecessary gear."

  Lucia emerged from her own preparations looking pale. "I've never flown before," she admitted quietly to Clive. "On a dragon, I mean. Or on anything."

  "Neither have I." He tried to reassure her. "How hard can it be? We just... hold on."

  "For ten hours. Over water that apparently eats ships."

  "It’ll be fine.Relax."

  Miranda's whistle cut through the wind. "Mount up! We launch in five minutes. Stay in formation, follow my lead, and for the love of all the gods, do not let go."

  Clive found himself assigned to Emberwing with Guma, strapped into a secondary harness behind the rider's seat. The leather creaked as he settled into position, and beneath him he felt warm scales.

  Lucia was secured behind Yara on Stormscale. She stiffened up as she gripped the harness straps with all her might. Prince Sion rode with Miranda on Verdant, his expression was nonchalant as he gazed across the water toward whatever waited on the other side.

  "Ready?" Guma called back.

  “Let’s go.”

  Emberwing launched.

  The world dropped away. Clive's stomach lurched as the dragon took off. The cliff edge fell below them, and then there was nothing beneath them but the North Sea. The wind was exhilarating. It tore at Clive's clothes, whipped his hair into his eyes, roared past his ears. He pressed himself against Emberwing's back.

  And he laughed.

  He couldn't help it. He was flying. On the back of a dragon, higher than any building, faster than any vehicle. That sense of awe. It was exactly like how he envisioned it would be.

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  [New Skill Unlocked]

  Dragon Riding (Passive)

  "First-timers!" Guma shouted. "They either scream or laugh. Glad you're the second type!"

  Once, something breached the water far below, something massive and pale that rolled through the waves and vanished before Clive could process what he'd seen. Emberwing's head turned to track the movement.

  "Sea serpents," Guma said when Clive managed to ask. "Another reason ships don't survive the crossing. The currents bring them up from the deep." He patted Emberwing's neck. "They've learned to leave dragons alone."

  They flew in formation. Verdant at the point, Emberwing and Stormscale flanking.

  "Lucia!" Clive shouted across the gap between dragons. "Isn't this incredible?"

  There was no response. On Stormscale's back, Lucia sat rigid as marble, her arms locked around Yara's waist, her face buried against the rider's back. She hadn't moved since takeoff.

  "She's fine!" Yara called back. "Some people need a few flights before they can enjoy it!"

  Clive turned back to the endless sky ahead. He'd make it up to her later, maybe sketch her something calming, a peaceful landscape, anything that didn't involve heights or wind or the very real possibility of plummeting into serpent-infested waters. But for now, he couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about enjoying this.

  Hours passed.

  "There," Guma said suddenly, pointing north.

  Clive squinted against the wind. At first he saw nothing but gray. Gray water, gray sky, gray horizon. But when the clouds parted, he saw it.

  Land. Massive cliffs of black stone towered hundreds of feet above the water. Behind the cliffs, mountains climbed toward the sky, their peaks lost in the clouds.

  "The Dragon Lands," Guma said.

  They crossed the final stretch of water in what felt like minutes. Verdant led them upward, following a thermal stream that rose along the cliff face. Clive's ears popped as they climbed, the air growing warmer despite the altitude. They crested the clifftop and the Dragon Lands spread before them.

  It was amazing.

  Volcanic peaks circled a large crater. Along their slopes streaked lava that glowed orange and red against the black stone. Geysers of steam erupted at irregular intervals, sending columns of white vapor into the sky. And everywhere, there were dragons.

  Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. They nested in the cliffsides, soared between the peaks, basked on rocks warmed by volcanic heat. Some were smaller than the three they'd traveled with. Others were massive, easily twice the size.

  When they finally landed, Clive’s legs buckled from six hours of cramped muscles.

  "By the gods," Lucia breathed from somewhere nearby.

  His [Artist's Eyes] had locked onto something in the distance, something that made every other dragon suddenly seem small.

  At the center of the caldera, rising from a lake of molten rock like a god surveying his domain, sat a dragon larger than any other.

  Large wasn’t enough to do it justice. Emberwing was large. This dragon was enormous. His scales were the deep red of cooling magma, shot through with veins of gold. His wings, folded against his flanks, could have sheltered a small village. The other dragons kept their distance, leaving a vast circle of empty stone surrounding his perch.

  "There he is," Prince Sion said. "The Dragon King."

  The Dragon King's head turned, until those burning eyes fixed on their small party standing at the crater's edge.

  Clive felt the weight of that gaze. But the Dragon King wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Sion.

  “Son of men. Seven of your blood have stood where you stand. Three became ash. Four became broken things that crawled back across the sea. Why have you come to add your name to their number?”

  "I have not come to add my name to anything." Prince Sion’s voice carried across the crater. "I have come because San Dioral marches to war against a darkness that threatens to swallow the world. I have come because my people need a king who can meet that darkness in the sky as well as on the ground. I have come to prove my worth. Not to history. To you."

  The Dragon King's eyes narrowed. "Bold words. Your ancestors spoke bold words as well. Let us see if you burn the same way they did."

  As Sion began his descent, dozens of dragons launched from their perches and spiraled downward. Clive's hand moved instinctively toward his sword, but Miranda caught his wrist.

  "Don't."

  The dragons landed along the pathway in staggered formation, forming a living corridor that stretched down toward the lake of fire. They settled onto the black stone, folding their wings and lowering their heads in deference.

  "We're just... walking through them?" Lucia whispered.

  "They won't harm us," Miranda said. "Not yet at least."

  Clive glanced back at where Emberwing, Stormscale, and Verdant remained at the crater's edge. "Aren't we bringing our dragons with us?"

  Guma shook his head. "They cannot enter the King's circle uninvited. None of them can. What creature would raise claw or fang against their own king? They come to watch, not to interfere. This is between us and the Dragon King alone."

  They walked. The dragons watched. And the heat grew with every step.

  If diamonds are a girl's best friend, then dragons are a man's. Though one must first survive the introduction.

  — Saying amongst the Dragon Riders