Wings of Fire: Revenant

Chapter Thirty-One

Peacemaker flew for what seemed like an eternity, unaware of any real destination. He sailed low over the mountains, carried by the cold wind blowing in off the sea. The storm was beginning to break up now, and the dark clouds drifted apart in small, shattered pieces. The sky beneath was the dark, dull shade of blue which comes just before the dawn.

Peacemaker's flight was lilting and uneven. His wings were heavy and his head was on fire, but no pain could match the fierce, persistent agony digging like a knife into his heart.

It was over. He would never get his magic back. He would never be Darkstalker again. All those dreams – all those futures – had shattered like the storm clouds drifting away on the wind. All he had managed to do in pursuit of those broken dreams was hurt everyone around him.

Peacemaker didn't realize that he was flying towards Agate Mountain until he found himself staring down into the dark crevasse slashed across the crumbled summit. He expected to feel terror at the sight of that vast, terrible darkness, but the feeling never came. It was as if his mind was simply too exhausted and overcome to make any more room for fear.

Without really thinking, Peacemaker drew his wings in and dived towards the abyss. The splintered trees framing the entrance trembled as he whisked past them and into the cavern below. It was oppressively dark inside, and the wet, frigid air bit sharply at his lungs.

In the weak light, it looked less like a natural cave and more like a long, jagged tunnel sloping up from the interior of the mountain. The stone walls were ridged with gouge marks, as if something very large had violently dug its way out. Peacemaker shuddered, remembering the feel of stone giving way beneath his feet.

The tunnel ended in a comparatively small crawlspace, lit by a trickle of pale light drifting down from a hole in the ceiling. The walls were lined top to bottom with long, deliberate claw marks, one right after the other. Peacemaker traced his claws down the cold stone, staring up at the neat lines ascending far, far up above his head. Each claw mark was easily as long as his whole talon.

He backed up and turned in a circle, unaccustomed to how much space there was. He could recall memories of being trapped in this place, and the feeling of stone digging tightly into his scales on all sides. Now it seemed vast and open and empty, with only the faint drip of faraway water filling up the silence.

As he took another step back, Peacemaker's talons suddenly brushed against something small and cold, which clinked as it skipped across the hard floor. Glancing down, he realized it was a bracelet made of twisted copper wire, stretched and broken as if something large and powerful had pulled it apart. The wires were layered with dirt and tarnish, but within them lay three perfect moonstones, sparkling brightly under the light streaming in from above.

Peacemaker picked the bracelet up in his talon, tracing his claws down the cool surface of the pale stones. Oh yes, he remembered this too. This was the bracelet that Clearsight had used to trap Darkstalker under this very mountain two thousand years before.

Because she was afraid of him, he realized with a pang of sorrow. The dragon he had cared for more than anyone in the world had been afraid of him. He thought back to the old soul reader, and the proof that his insides were dark and rotten and empty.

Maybe she'd been right to be afraid.

Peacemaker had been given a chance to make all of that right – to move on from what he had done before – and still he had managed to fail. He had let his fear and pain turn him against the dragons he loved. He had proven without a shadow of a doubt that his soul was broken and could never be repaired.