But I didn’t.
The dragons weren’t moving either. Their mouths were silent but thei
r great black eyes stared at me.
PRINCE.
RIDER.
BLOODSINGER.
YOU KEPT US WAITING SO LONG, WE STOPPED BELIEVING IN YOU. WE FORGOT YOUR EXISTENCE AND DID NOT RECOGNIZE YOU UNTIL WE HEARD YOUR SONG.
WE PLEDGE YOU FEALTY. WE DRAGONS HAVE A BLOOD DEBT TO YOU BLOODSINGERS, AND WE MISS HUMANKIND. IT WILL DO US WELL TO SERVE YOU. THERE WAS… A LACK.
THE SPELL IS WEARING OFF. YOU WOULD DO WELL TO GET ON ONE OF OUR BACKS. CHOOSE WELL, YOUR CHOICE IS BINDING. LET YOUR BLOOD LEAD YOU.
I looked down and gulped. It was a great drop beneath me. A half dozen dragons hung in the air around me. They were golden, blue, red, green and white. Their eyes were all black, though, and all their eyes were on me.
I looked into their eyes and at their auras. They were all beautiful, but there was one that called out to me. My blood hummed when I looked at her. I could tell she was a female; somehow, my blood knew.
I did not think about what to do next. I bowed my head to her, and she blinked her enormous eyes and let her head drop. I hoisted myself onto her neck. Then we were all falling, and I held onto her neck as she twisted and spun out of a dive into a glide across the clear sky.
The air rushed through my hair and I felt very alive, very free, very happy for the first time I could remember. Like I was born to do this.
You are a rider born, Anders Tomason. Let me present myself. My name is Yesenia… But now we must land, your friends are waiting. I can feel their worry from up here. We dragons are very sensitive to human feelings and thoughts. That means even though your mind is shielded, I can feel your thoughts through your legs and arms wrapped around my neck.
Let us go down, then.
We glided down in great, slow circles to the ground. As we were about to land, I saw my friends below, tensed up with arrows drawn. I thought a message to them. Relax, we come in peace.
IX
They let their weapons fall down to their sides as the dragons landed. There were six dragons, Yesenia and five others. My sisters and brothers are going to pick riders. Tell your friends not to worry.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “The dragons are going to pick riders, my dragon says not to worry.” Then I thought it again to the tree folk, for good measure.
It was the strangest sight I had ever seen. The five remaining dragons were sitting there on their short hind legs, propping their huge heads against a small claw, and staring at the assembled group with their huge black eyes.
They have chosen. Now they will call out to their riders.
Elias was the first to walk forward. I wanted to call out that he was just a boy, but I knew he was more than that. He was a born wizard, and full of power and wisdom beyond his years. Still his whole body seemed dwarfed by the head of the gargantuan white dragon to which he walked.
Her name is Esmerelda. She is one of our oldest and most powerful. The dragon was larger and seemed older than all the others. The dragon lowered its enormous head and Elias, the smallest and youngest of my group, reached out and touched its cheek. From the dragon’s eye there formed a tear, as big as my fist, that crystallized and fell.
Our tears are very powerful. For what they serve, however, I do not remember.
Elias reached down and picked it up, and then mounted the dragon’s neck.
Then Woltan came forward. An enormous dark blue female, almost as dark as her eyes, puffed smoke at him.
Renata has picked him. He must be very powerful and wise.
He walked right up to her, and she lowered her head. He touched her head and she closed her eyes and he did the same. They were silent for a long moment then, and much later Woltan would tell me what transpired during their mental discussion. For now I could see nothing of their thoughts; in a moment Woltan mounted her neck.
Then the twins were picked. I could still not tell them apart, but either Lars or Gustaf was picked by an enormous emerald green female, and the other by a small purple female.
Teodora and Beatrice are as different as could be. But I am proud to call them kin, the two of them.